• Question from:terence falk

hello,

I found this vertebrae on a beach in Rhode Island, USA, and I was wondering if you think it is from a shark? It measures approx. 2" in length and a bit more than that in diameter. It has the yellowish color that fish bones have, but it seems too big for a fish.

thanks

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A shark is one of the things this can't be, since it's a bone. Sharks (and their relatives, the rays) have soft skeletons made from cartilage instead of bone. So this is almost certainly a vertebra of some other big fish. (Don't forget that sharks are fish, too!)