Creepy "Bones" on the Beach

Sadly, my sweet husband usually objects when I try to bring home the creepy bones I find while beachcombing. They tend to smell like fish. Very strongly of fish. Even the bones that aren't from fish, like seabird bones, smell like fish because seabirds eat fish. I have tried. I've brought some home, in spite of his objections, and cleaned them with soap and soaked them in hydrogen peroxide. This works to make most bones clean and tidy (and most importantly NOT smelly), but beach bones come out of the process still fishy. Ah well. 

On a recent trip to Vancouver, B.C., we spent a lot of time walking the beaches, particular Jericho Beach and Wreck and Tower Beaches near the University of British Columbia. I found and photographed this object on Wreck Beach. I didn't even plead to take it home because of the fish smell AND international borders. (Border agent: "Anything to declare?"  Me: "Ummm. . .").

Skate skull

At home, I used Google Lens and a bit of internet searching to try to figure out what it was. I wish that I had washed it off and gotten better photos, because it turned out to be the skull of a skate! The "nose" is pointing down in the picture, and the things that look like eye sockets are exactly that. I was thrilled; I've never seen a skate outside an aquarium, alive or dead. I don't think the type of skate is probably identifiable, but longnose skates and big skates are common in the area.

Here are some other cool, creepy beach bones from Discovery Park in Seattle. This is a seabird pelvis. 

Seabird pelvis

I actually tried to clean this one with no luck; it was still way too fishy smelling to keep. I guess sometimes my sweet husband is right. I love the delicate bone structure around the backbone.

I'm pretty sure this is a very worn braincase (part of the skull) of a small shark, like a dogfish.

Shark braincase

The nose has been worn away. It was really rubbery, so I think it was cartilage rather than true bone. Even though I think of all of these objects as creepy bones, both sharks and skates are cartilaginous fish, so they technically do not have bones at all. Their skeletons are made of rubbery-feeling cartilage like we have in our noses or ears. Here's an image of the other (bottom) side of the possible shark braincase. If anyone has a different idea of what it might be, let me know! 

Shark braincase 


Location: Foreshore Trail, Vancouver, BC V6T 1A7, Canada

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