What IS That Grotesqueness?

Traditionally, most of us associate awe and wonder with the beauty of the ocean, but yesterday’s walk on the beach  (where we’re vacationing with siblings and spouses at Ocean Isle, North Carolina) served up a new kind of mystery altogether when I kicked it out of the sandy path through the dunes on the way to water’s edge. 

This ugly thing:

Disgusting words come to mind, by way of description, all of them far from any idea of beauty. It measures about 4x5 inches in width and length, and is about one inch thick. To the touch, it feels like rigid plastic and is very light in weight, as if dried. 

None of us knew what it was, but all offered suggestions of course:

1) An internal organ of some kind

2) A small dolphin’s head. See the jawline?

3) An organ out of an animal

4) Dried skin of an animal

5) “Wooks wike wibber to me,” (in reference to an old family story)

6) Maybe something human.You can see the nerves. 

7) Shoe leather

 I invite any readers to venture guesses in the comment section, or even better, are there any biologists out there who might offer a definitive identification?

Meantime, that old family story: 

   When my older brother, Danny, was very young, he hated liver and onions for supper. To encourage him to taste it one night, my dad told him we were having something new called “gland.”  Danny apparently took one bite and said, “Tastes wike wibber to me.”  

~dkm 10/15/22