Fossil? Or something else?

My Grandson picked this up on the sea shore.



To me it looks like an Octopus tentacle (suckers), but I thought only shelled or boned creatures create fossils, so I’m wondering if one of our ats experts could shed some light on this?

a reply to: VoidHawk

I believe in a lost past but this look's organic and though cool it may be a known species, I seem to remember diatom but the sucker threw me, maybe an uncatalogued fossile specie's in which case your son could get it named after him.

it actually is possible for them to fossilize

As you can imagine, the boneless body of the octupus rarely becomes part of the fossil record. Science Daily calls it "about as unlikely as finding a fossil sneeze." There have been a handful preserved, some with ink and intact suckers, but for the first time an octopus fossil has been found - in 95-million-year-old Cretaceous rock in Lebanon - that is almost indistinguishable from modern species. This remarkable find (pictured above) pushes back the origins of modern octopus by tens of millions of years. Other octo-fossils are pictured below.

more rare because of the lack of bones but possible, you might have a rare little fossil there

Octopus Fossils

I'm no expert.
But my guess, is a piece of fossiliferous limestone, with imprints of Coral Polyp skeletons (shells)

Could be a sea urchin:

The fossil is part of a test (internal shell) of a sea urchin formed about 85 million years ago. The long club-like spines have broken off leaving the base only. The exact species has not been established yet.

Source

a reply to: lemmin

That looks really similar

originally posted by: lemmin
Could be a sea urchin:

The fossil is part of a test (internal shell) of a sea urchin formed about 85 million years ago. The long club-like spines have broken off leaving the base only. The exact species has not been established yet.

Source

That does look almost identical

a reply to: VoidHawk

I bet a university with a decent marine biology program could provide you with some excellent insight. Maybe find one nearby, just in case they wanted to examine it in person.

originally posted by: cmdrkeenkid
a reply to: VoidHawk

I bet a university with a decent marine biology program could provide you with some excellent insight. Maybe find one nearby, just in case they wanted to examine it in person.

Thats a really good idea! Thanks

I've noted you user name so if we find out anything interesting I'll get back to you.

Possibly some sort of crinoid fossil. It's often to tell from a picture, the depth perception is bad with digital cameras.

Someone said sea urchin, I thought of that one initially upon seeing it but the ones I have seen of those are usually all white. I suppose there could be some sort of darker patina finish on this though. I suppose they don't have to be white.

a reply to: VoidHawk

To me, it looks like a part of a sea urchin - where those little "knobs" are would be where the spikes were at one point.

Now, what it could be was the stone used to be some kind of mudstone or clay - if the urchin was covered in the mud, the mud hardened, and the urchin shell rotted away (or was dissolved), then I'd expect to see something similar.

Second bet is with RickyMouse, in that it's some kind of crinoid piece - There is a part of the crinoid where the stem connects to the "arms", and it does look similar.

Third bet is a sponge, or a sponge imprint of some kind.

-fossilera