The occasional “can you identify this …” reader photos we publish tend to be birds. Tonight, we have … bones. Jana and her kids found them while out on the beach south of Alki Point in the sunshine. Guesses?
P.S. Jana also shared a sunset photo from tonight – not one of those wild color-splashed scenes, yet beautiful in its own right:
Side note: Daylight Saving Time is less than two weeks away – we “spring forward” an hour at 2 am Sunday, March 11th.
Jana or WSB, what’s the scale on the photo? How big are those bones? Cool find!
Ling cod? A smallish one, maybe? Those eye sockets seem large – like a ling – but…???
I’d guess eel also, based on the rear portion of the skull. Cool find!
How can you tell what it is if we can’t tell how big they are? Are these bones big or small?
Looks like a ling cod to me. It’s always a little hard to tell from pictures, but this one looks a lot like the ling cod skeleton I have. :)
Forgot to add something to show scale, you could fit a silver dollar in the upper arch of the eye socket if that helps. The largest tooth is about 1/2″. I also was leaning toward an eel but I never considered a ling cod. That is definitely what it is!!!
Thanks for your help. We actually found him in two beach walks about a week a part. Today we found the bottom part of the jaw. I’ve lived here on the beach for 25+ years and never found something so nice and clean before, we feel pretty special. ;) Here’s a link to a full skeleton of a ling cod, the bones match pretty good. Thanks again, that was fun!
http://www.flickr.com/photos/jdmuth/3390948899/#/photos/jdmuth/3390948899/lightbox/
Definitely not a wolf eel, if you saw a wolf eel skull you would know it…strong canine and molar teeth to crush clams, echinoderms and crustaceans. Whatever it is, it’s a beautiful find. m-
Looks kind of like the monk fish I sometimes see at the Pike Place Market downtown.
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