Hello.

I am helping with some research of the stomach contents of Bonnethead Sharks in Biscayne Bay, Florida. We have been finding a lot of these pieces that look like beaks. Is it possible to ID what species they are from with the beaks alone? Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!!!

Very cool, good luck identifying it.

:welcome: Yup, it is possible, but I don't know how to do it. I think there's actually a "big book of cephalopod beak measurements and ratios" (or maybe it's an online database or something)-- I bet Steve and Kat know where to find that info, although Steve also seems to be able to look at beaks and just know off the top of his head. Since you're in Florida, you might be able to get in-person help from the MOTE folks, too... I don't know if any of them are "prey ID from stomach contents" specialists, but I bet some of them have done some time with that sort of task.

Malcolm Clarke wrote a book called A handbook for the identification of cephalopod beaks published in 1986. It's pretty good.

J

Malcolm Clarke wrote a book called A handbook for the identification of cephalopod beaks published in 1986. It's pretty good.

J

yup, that's what I was thinking of. It looks like it's out of stock on Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Handbook-Identification-Cephalopod-Beaks/dp/019857603X/ref=sr_1_4/104-0404833-8854360?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1191201101&sr=8-4

Some academic libraries have it. I had to interloan it.

J