# unidentified species



## [email protected] (Sep 2, 2007)

[View attachment 27745

unidentified[SIZE=+0] species[/SIZE]

found in Portugal about 70 years ago bought back to australia given to me by my grandmother
she gave this to me before she past away and know one could tell her what it was. it was inbedded in a rock face in a crevices on the side of a cliff by the sea .she said that it was as petrified as is when she found it and she kept it in a glass cabinet for 70 years then gave it to me 5 years ago and till this day know one can tell me what it is. ive sent photo's to museums and marine biologist and still cant work out what it is. They said send it to them but theres know way im going to part with it as its sentimental. its not a salamanda or a flying fish it has a vertebrate and tail like fin also it has rows of sharp teeth also has sharp thawns all over its body.also has two wings and two hand with 5 fingers like bat wings. im assuming it was some type of scavenger on the sea floor but also reptile like. its a real weird creature and great to look at. 
i will get more photo's of full body.
cheers steve.


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## Radar (Sep 2, 2007)

now THAT is cool. More photos would be excellent.


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## Armand (Sep 2, 2007)

thats awsome.... where's its face??


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## bouncn (Sep 2, 2007)

it was made before faces were invented.

it's so old it doesn't need a face.

really though that is awesome


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## scotchbo (Sep 2, 2007)

maybe it is a prehistoric form of a sting ray or something (just a wild stab in the dark) different angled pics would be good
maybe your grnadmother made it just to trick the world one last time before she left us lol


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## [email protected] (Sep 2, 2007)

*another pic*

sorry my computers real slow as im only on dial up.
hope this can help a bit more i will send more over the next hour.
View attachment 27746


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## [email protected] (Sep 2, 2007)

*another photo*

View attachment 27747

another back shot


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## WombleHerp (Sep 2, 2007)

whatever it is its scary looking!! i'd hate to be its prey!


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## Radar (Sep 2, 2007)

errr, any budding paleotologists here? 
If you took it to a muesum, let them know you were coming, stayed within sight of it and make it clear you werent leaving without it, do you reckon anyone would try to identify it for you? 
Send them pic beforehand, and go somewhere big, like melboune museum....?


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## reece89 (Sep 2, 2007)

thats cool !!! and weird lol.


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## congo_python (Sep 2, 2007)

Very interesting and weird at the same time ??

Congo


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## mr_muesli (Sep 2, 2007)

awesome....can we see a full body shot???


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## [email protected] (Sep 2, 2007)

*full body shot*

this is a full body shot from a birds eys view.
i try not to touch it and i keep it in a air tight glass tank.View attachment 27761

away from light.


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## Lozza (Sep 2, 2007)

I'd say the "wing" is actually a fin.
looks like some kind of prehistoric fish species - early fish were bone armour plated (spiney too)
Ostracoderms & Placoderms were the first fish, common in the Devonian
could even be an early chondrichthyes (sharks & rays)
then again could even be a type of eel - hard to say from just photos


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## bredli84 (Sep 2, 2007)

they are wings, you have got yourself a petrified angel! 

seriously though, if you find out what it is be sure to tell us.


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## mr_muesli (Sep 2, 2007)

im being 100% serious when i say this, but too me it looks kind-of like a dragon, or as lozza said, a prehistoric amphibean.


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## Shano92 (Sep 2, 2007)

yeah it looks like a small flying dragon..


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## Mrs I (Sep 2, 2007)

Take it to a museum or at least ring one maybe they have someone that can come out to your house and take a look.

Mrs I


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## Pike01 (Sep 2, 2007)

I reckon its a skate with its flaps cut off,only the 2 near the tail left.


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## [email protected] (Sep 2, 2007)

i have already show'd the museums photo's and they couldn't tell me.


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## MC Brad (Sep 2, 2007)

looks like one of those deep sea fish to me


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## jay76 (Sep 2, 2007)

very strange


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## Duke (Sep 2, 2007)

Looks like a genetic experiment from the Alien films.


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## SlothHead (Sep 2, 2007)

the only way you will know is if you hand it in for some testing. I think you should, imagine if you are the one that owns the missing link between Dragons and unicorns. Obviously though you will want to be getting it back once they are done with it and ensure that they arent going to be damaging it in any way.


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## Reptile_Boy (Sep 2, 2007)

mate to be ohnest it looks like a dragon.... maybe you can proove the myths are real


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## Retic (Sep 2, 2007)

There was a habit years ago of creating creatures from other more common species, these are the things that gave rise to the myths of dragons, mermaids etc.


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## Armand (Sep 2, 2007)

whatever that "thing" is it's gota be thousands (maybe more) years old if even a museum can't tell you what it is.. looks to me like that alien off alien V predator...


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## grimbeny (Sep 2, 2007)

Id say if you ever want to know anything about it, you would have to hand it over to a museum or university for testing, more than likely its a known species with just pieces missing so not as easily identified.


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## kris21 (Sep 2, 2007)

Thats a dinosaur man!
Nah pretty cool no matter what it is but if it were mine i'd have to find out what it was!
This is what it reminded me of when i saw the whole body shot.






Kristy


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## cmclean (Sep 3, 2007)

Hey Elapid, ring up CSIRO in Canberra. they may be able to shed some light on this fossil. A scraping from the skeleton could be analysed and would determine what animal it may be.

I collect skeletons and many have sentimental value. Keep it, dont part with it....if anyone wants to examine it, make sure you keep sight of it... things like this go missing so easily... or should I say lifted.

That is such a lovely heirloom for your grandmother to give you


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## Davo66 (Sep 3, 2007)

looks like my missus when she's got the SHXTS!


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## junglepython2 (Sep 3, 2007)

[email protected] you might have more luck if you contact some European mueseums seeming as it was found there. Also if you give them the rough location of where it was found, they may be able to roughly date it due to the rocks found there and when they were formed narrowing down the chances.

Just be careful about giving out all your details as some countries get abit funny about fossils in private collections.


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## Pike01 (Sep 3, 2007)

Cmon people,its a dead stingray,google thorny skate.


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## darkangel (Sep 3, 2007)

Davo66 said:


> looks like my missus when she's got the SHXTS!




that's not very nice!!! lol


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## Kyro (Sep 3, 2007)

I'd try contacting a couple of Universities & ask if you could take it there to get help identifying it.Good luck


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## Niomi (Sep 3, 2007)

About the mermaid and dragon thing, has anyone ever watched Ripley's Believe it or not? They had a fossil on there that looked like a mermaid.You might be able to google it, ill see if i can find a photo... You may find it is only a fish but you may have also made an amazing discovery


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## lilmissrazz (Sep 3, 2007)

its a flying wobbegong!! no seriously that is so cool!! let us know if you find out what it is....


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## junglepython2 (Sep 3, 2007)

Niomi said:


> About the mermaid and dragon thing, has anyone ever watched Ripley's Believe it or not? They had a fossil on there that looked like a mermaid.You might be able to google it, ill see if i can find a photo... You may find it is only a fish but you may have also made an amazing discovery


 
They have one on display in the Ripley's museum on the Gold Coast or at least they did a year or two ago.


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## Lozza (Sep 3, 2007)

pike1 said:


> Cmon people,its a dead stingray,google thorny skate.


I'd say you're right pike


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## Niomi (Sep 3, 2007)

Ok i dont know if this worked but its from Ripleys its some sea creature...


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## Niomi (Sep 3, 2007)

Here is a better pic


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## Jungletrans (Sep 3, 2007)

One of these ?


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## Niomi (Sep 3, 2007)

Oh wow Jungletrans thats awesome!!!


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## Scleropages (Sep 3, 2007)

It is a fish.


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## Retic (Sep 3, 2007)

I know it looks weird and wonderful but it's quite obvious roughly what it is though. It's a dessicated fish of some sort not a fossil.




pike1 said:


> Cmon people,its a dead stingray,google thorny skate.


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## Hickson (Sep 3, 2007)

[email protected]:

How big is it - from nosetip to tail tip?



Hix


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## JasonL (Sep 3, 2007)

pike1 said:


> Cmon people,its a dead stingray,google thorny skate.



Yeah, I agree, shark rays, large skates, shovel nose rays, all have barbs down their vertibrae.


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## [email protected] (Sep 3, 2007)

yeah thanks people, its really some thing that gets people when they see it. I dont really care if it was common. but i can assure you its not, also its not a sting ray . etc. its real and its important that it gets a name.some people say its this its that, but if they new then they could prove it to me then i can let it rest.
But until then its unidentifiable.
thanks again people for the info, i wont give up on it and when i find out you will be the first to know.
cheers steve.


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## cement (Sep 3, 2007)

I would get it checked out, you probably need someone you can trust with it if its sentimental. I worked on trawlers for a while and there's some pretty weird stuff out there that you don't see everyday. Fascinating this planet is.


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## Australis (Sep 3, 2007)

I'll put $50 on it being a dried out Dogfish _Squalidae_

Please PM for bank details


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## Hickson (Sep 4, 2007)

[email protected]: how long is it from nosetip to tailtip?



Hix


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## noidea (Sep 4, 2007)

the only idea we came up with is some prehistoric kind of sea dragon or pipe fish but then it could be anything the ocean is such a big undiscovered place with new findings all the time. good luck finding out what it is though. my sister's 2 bobs worth was some kind of iguana prehistoric of course seen as it was found in portugal.


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## Sidonia (Sep 4, 2007)

Jungletrans said:


> One of these ?



 Where did you get those pictures?! I want to see more.


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## Khagan (Sep 4, 2007)

Maybe you should leave it unidentified, its much more interesting not knowing what it is and wondering about it plus it might make some people actually use their brain and imagination which can be rare lol.


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## mattmc (Sep 4, 2007)

its one of the long lost residents of atlantis. if you no exactly where it was found tell the scientist to search there. serioulsy a resident of atlantis.


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## PhilK (Sep 4, 2007)

As much as it may be a skate or ray, you'd think the museums he sent photos to would say "that's a skate/ray" not "we have no idea what it is"


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## [email protected] (Sep 5, 2007)

*hello*

its about 40 cm long.
cheers steve


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## mattmc (Sep 5, 2007)

atlantis i say atlantis


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