![Polished side of coprolite featuring unidentified (fish?) inclusions](https://www.areallycrappystory.com/files/styles/8_columns/public/coprolite-lower-lias-cephalopod-fish-inclusions-cover.jpg?itok=FMolApOA)
![Unpolished side of coprolite](https://www.areallycrappystory.com/files/styles/8_columns/public/coprolite-lower-lias-cephalopod-back-a.jpg?itok=ql4MnhL3)
![Magnified view of unidentified suface inclusion (unpolished side)](https://www.areallycrappystory.com/files/styles/8_columns/public/coprolite-lower-lias-cephalopod-back-a7x.jpg?itok=bWCp8C5P)
![X-ray image showing unidentified surface inclusion](https://www.areallycrappystory.com/files/styles/8_columns/public/coprolite-lower-lias-cephalopod-ct-prelim-2.jpg?itok=7k6O01DE)
![Magnified X-ray image of unidentified surface inclusion](https://www.areallycrappystory.com/files/styles/8_columns/public/coprolite-lower-lias-cephalopod-ct-prelim-inclusion.jpg?itok=5Tg9v0GN)
![](https://www.areallycrappystory.com/files/styles/8_columns/public/coprolite-lower-lias-cephalopod-face-a5x.jpg?itok=s3TYFX8-)
![](https://www.areallycrappystory.com/files/styles/8_columns/public/coprolite-lower-lias-fish-inclusions-20x-1.jpg?itok=H1opg3a_)
![](https://www.areallycrappystory.com/files/styles/8_columns/public/coprolite-lower-lias-fish-inclusions-20x-2.jpg?itok=n5Ec_piw)
![CT image showing ring-shaped inclusions (fish vertebrae?)](https://www.areallycrappystory.com/files/styles/8_columns/public/ceph-40um0046.jpg?itok=9P2Zb4Si)
This coprolite specimen has been cut in half and polished. As with many of the coprolites found in Church Cliff Bay, the exterior surface has been eroded by the surf. Fossil feces of this type are generally attributed to marine reptiles such as ichthyosaurs or plesiosaurs; however, it is nearly impossible to definitively identify their creator.
What is fascinating about this poo, is that its LOADED mysterious inclusions. The University of Minnesota's X-ray CT Lab was kind enough to provide imagery so that we could see inside this coprolite. Because of the size and density of this coprolite, it is hard to isolate individual inclusions. That said, in the last image, a faint cluster of ring-shaped objects can be seen.
William Buckland discussed inclusions such as these in his 1829 paper On the Discovery of Coprolites, or Fossil Faeces, in the Lias at Lyme Regis, and in other Formations. He thought these rings might be from the suckers of cephalopods, but admitted the vertebrae of some small fish found in the formation were about the same size and shape as the rings found in this type of coprolite.