FISH Saltwater Fish Otoliths ID TIPS: • Bones are lightweight with no spongy bone • Woody texture, glossy and semi-translucent • Flat and angular shape, lots of ridges and Gafftopsail Sand Seatrout holes on one side then fairly flat on the other

FIN SPINES: Marlin An example of various fish Salmon bones showing their White Mullet Striped Mullet Tarpon Snook delicate and sometimes Sturgeon translucent appearance.

VERTEBRAE: SCALES: Fish vertebra are Florida Pompano Sheepshead Swordspine Snook generally spool shaped with ends that are concave, Salmon not flat like in mammals. Spines project off this central portion but often break Shark Perch Gar off because they are so fragile Fat Snook Common Snook Tarpon Snook

COMMON FISH TEETH FOUND IN FLORIDA

Black Drum Sand Drum Red Drum

Bull Shark Lemon Shark Sand Shark Drum BIRDS MAMMALS REPTILES ID TIPS: ID TIPS: ID TIPS: • Bones are lightweight with a thin cortex and thin • Bones are heavy with a thick cortex and dense spongy • Bones are of a medium weight with a medium support webs within bone at the ends cortex thickness, some spongy bone present • Smooth texture, can be glossy but not translucent • Woody texture, not glossy or translucent • Woody to smooth texture, not translucent • Angular shape on some long bone ends • Rounded shape, size can be helpful in ID of species • Very rounded shape to ends of long bones SNAKES: This cut cow bone is Snakes are not lacking in backbone, some can have a good example of up to 400 vertebrae! No Snake Vertebrae what the dense arms or legs means only a This bird bone is cut in half to show spongy bone few bones to identify. the web of support filaments within. found in mammal Hollow, light bones aid in flight. bones looks like. ALLIGATOR: Alligator teeth are cone shaped and fairly easy to Bird bones TEETH: VERTEBRAE: identify. Scutes are bony generally have Large central external plates or scales a very smooth Herbivore (Plant Eater) found under the skin of Above: Alligator Scute Deer hole or Right: Alligator Tooth texture, unlike “foramen” alligators and crocodiles mammal bones that make the skin very hard to penetrate. which are more woody. MAMMAL BIRD Omnivore (Plants and Meat) Bear TURTLE & TORTOISE SHELLS: The upper shell (carapace) and lower shell For more information about Deer (plastron) are both made up of interlocking archaeology in your area go to: plates. Look for a pattern of ridges on one of the flat There are 5 general types: Carnivore (Meat Eater) sides as well as jagged Cervical (neck), Thoracic Coyote edges where the plates facebook.com/ (upper body), Lumbar would have come toge- (lower body), Sacral Turtle Carapace FPANwestcentral ther to ID these bones. (pelvis), and Caudal (tail) Fragments