Hi, Thanks for all the replies. The below-mentioned explanation seems to me the best one and I'll do a bit more research on that point.

I have not yet scanned a picture, but will try to do so tonight and tell everyone what the URL is to go and have a look. There will be an article in The Strandloper . Subscribers will see the whole article - it is going to be a nice one!

It is something that washes up on the beaches of South Africa, yes and is definitely not a shell. I got the information in a book and didn't suck it out of my thumb

Best regards, from sunny South Africa,
Kobie.

>>> [log in to unmask] 11/26/02 06:54PM >>>
>Can anyone please explain what a 'Mermaid's Comb' is? Possible explanations so far are
>1. Bony internal part of a ray ???
>2. Bony internal part of a whale or other creature that is a filter feeder ???<

I do not know of their being called mermaid combs, but rays do have some somewhat comb-like structures.  The teeth in many rays are rectangular to somewhat curved blocks, one side of which has grooves.  However, even in the largest ray teeth, it would have to be a very short-haired mermaid to find it useful.  The grooves are the attachment area.  Several of these teeth together make up a pavement that is used for crushing shells and other hard food, so there is a connection to mollusks.  Fossil ray teeth are common in several deposits and are durable enough to wash up on beaches.  Stingray spines also have a series of points along the sides that are somewhat comblike.

I can't think offhand of any whale bones that are comblike.  Baleen is more flexible than bone.

    Dr. David Campbell
    Old Seashells
    University of Alabama
    Biodiversity & Systematics
    Dept. Biological Sciences
    Box 870345
    Tuscaloosa, AL  35487 USA
    [log in to unmask]

That is Uncle Joe, taken in the masonic regalia of a Grand Exalted Periwinkle of the Mystic Order of Whelks-P.G. Wodehouse, Romance at Droitgate Spa