A sad but cool find.

[Digger54]

Whoa - you BETTER doubt that it looks human, coz this is pretty clearly a turtle jaw. (And I'm NOT a dentist...)

Yeah, I had to cut my note short (had to go treat a patient, imagine that), but was going to point out that the jaw was pointed unlike any human with the exception of cartoon witches. Way too thick. No teeth or tooth sockets, no mental foramen, condyles too low relative to the occlusal plane. mandibular canals long oval shaped instead of rounded.

My best guess would have been sea turtle, too.

What about the other bones? The vertebra resembles human, but I expect a lot do.

The rounded surface on the other bone resembles the head of a long bone such as a femur or humerus, but the rest of that bone doesn't look human to me.

 

[JSharp13]

It's illegal to posses any artifact that is part of an endangered species. It goes with the laws protecting those species. The only exceptions I know of are Eagle feathers and such that are allowed to be possessed by Native Americans for religious purposes.

Gotcha. Didn't catch that it was an endangered species. Now it makes sense. Thanks for the clarification!

 

[Mr.X]

I was once inside a ship and thought I had a nice teacup. As I lifted the thing out of the silt I realized I had a femur. I slowly decided to push it back into the silt. Animal, or biped - I wasn't going to disturb a resting spot, or grave.

X

 

[LobstaMan]

Human bones they are definitely not. Just trust me on this one...once you've seen a skeletonized corpse(or parts of one), you'll never mistake pig, turtle or cow bones for human bones.

About taking them, I though if they were old enough and thus, most likely not harvested from the animal by a recent kill, it was legal. If I remember correctly, someone on this board found an old whale vertebrae off Scituate a few years back and was allowed to keep it once the right person examined it and said it met certain criteria. Does this sound familar to anyone?

LobstaMan

 

[james croft]

Federal regs prohibit the possession of threatened or endangered species which includes sea turtles. They "normally" don't go after folks who do things without knowing any better, but tend to seize them and give you a fussing. If you engage in commercialization of threatened or endangered wildlife they will rip you a new one.

 

[paulthenurse]

Well, I didn't even consider that it might or might not be illegal to take them. It never even crossed my mind. It clearly was from a turtle, the ribs still had a cartelagenous sheet about 1/4 inch thick between them, they were still intact enough to show the basic form of the shell. I guess I'll drive by the beach on my way into work tonight and give them back to the ocean.

PTN

 

[diver 85]

Federal regs prohibit the possession of threatened or endangered species which includes sea turtles. They "normally" don't go after folks who do things without knowing any better, but tend to seize them and give you a fussing. If you engage in commercialization of threatened or endangered wildlife they will rip you a new one.

He says he 'ain't scared of no one----esp. the Feds'.......

 

[vshearer]

Yeah, I had to cut my note short (had to go treat a patient, imagine that), but was going to point out that the jaw was pointed unlike any human with the exception of cartoon witches. Way too thick. No teeth or tooth sockets, no mental foramen, condyles too low relative to the occlusal plane. mandibular canals long oval shaped instead of rounded.

My best guess would have been sea turtle, too.

What about the other bones? The vertebra resembles human, but I expect a lot do.

The rounded surface on the other bone resembles the head of a long bone such as a femur or humerus, but the rest of that bone doesn't look human to me.

I only hope you were more attentive to the details with your patient than you were with the particulars of the intial post.

 

[Mr.X]

Well, I didn't even consider that it might or might not be illegal to take them. It never even crossed my mind. It clearly was from a turtle, the ribs still had a cartelagenous sheet about 1/4 inch thick between them, they were still intact enough to show the basic form of the shell. I guess I'll drive by the beach on my way into work tonight and give them back to the ocean.

PTN

Bravo Paul! The best resting place for the turtle!

I knew not to take stuff from my work in the marine bio. and new interests in archeology field. Otherwise, as you say "who knew!". I once had a student who tried to give me an entire "Hawksbill Turtle"!!! Holy mole!

BTW - having said that the prevalent attitude for most NE wreck diving boats is take what you want! Understandable, but at the same time it leaves some wrecks less-than-desirable after a while. People bringing up pipe fittings, pieces of metal sheeting, tiles made very little sense to me, but then again some dive boats encouraged minor plunder to bring folks onto their boats.

X

 

[Scububbs]

Well, I didn't even consider that it might or might not be illegal to take them. It never even crossed my mind. It clearly was from a turtle, the ribs still had a cartelagenous sheet about 1/4 inch thick between them, they were still intact enough to show the basic form of the shell. I guess I'll drive by the beach on my way into work tonight and give them back to the ocean.

PTN

I like that idea too. It seem right, somehow.