[Guymac07 (OP)]

Hey everyone. This is my first post! I was hoping someone could help me find out more about this pebble I found on a beach on the South coast of England, UK. It has a "butterfly" indentation which seems too symmetric to be a natural flaw. Could it be part of a fossil, and if so any ideas what?
Thanks!

[RD]

Looks like an urchin fossil ...



urchin fossils.jpg (180.47 kB . 1500x1122 - viewed 16508 times)
https://www.amazon.co.uk/BAG-MOROCCAN-ECHINOIDS-FOSSIL-SPECIAL/dp/B071LM5YTP

[chris]

Yep, that's an echinoid fossil to my eye.

[Monox D. I-Fly]

Looks like an urchin fossil ...



urchin fossils.jpg (180.47 kB . 1500x1122 - viewed 16508 times)
https://www.amazon.co.uk/BAG-MOROCCAN-ECHINOIDS-FOSSIL-SPECIAL/dp/B071LM5YTP

Huh? I thought "urchin" was an animal similar to "hedgehog", "porcupine", or "echidna" and named so just because its body is full of spikes like a "land" urchin...

[RD]

Huh? I thought "urchin" was an animal similar to "hedgehog", "porcupine", or "echidna" and named so just because its body is full of spikes like a "land" urchin...

I should have written "sea urchin" to differentiate it from other urchins, like street urchins.   

In some cases the spines just consist of bristles and don't survive fossilization, other than as a pattern on the surface.

[Monox D. I-Fly]

Huh? I thought "urchin" was an animal similar to "hedgehog", "porcupine", or "echidna" and named so just because its body is full of spikes like a "land" urchin...

I should have written "sea urchin" to differentiate it from other urchins, like street urchins.   

In some cases the spines just consist of bristles and don't survive fossilization, other than as a pattern on the surface.

I knew it:

3.  an archaic or dialect name for a hedgehog

[Bill S]

Hi Guymac07, welcome.

Looks very much like a specimen of Micraster Sp. From Hunstanton, Norfolk, UK. I didn’t collect the fossil, so never did the work to try to identify the species.  It was not as well preserved as yours.

[Bill S]

an archaic or dialect name for a hedgehog

Then there is yrchin, which is a sort of pork sausage. 

[Monox D. I-Fly]

an archaic or dialect name for a hedgehog

Then there is yrchin, which is a sort of pork sausage. 

So it's a hedgehog sausage?