It was not the funny bone, but certainly humerus.

The funny bone is not actually a bone, but rather the term given to the feeling you get when you bump your elbow. What causes the tingle is the jarring of the ulnar nerve, which runs down the inside part of your elbow, when it bumps against your upper arm bone.

The upper arm bone, called a humerus, is nothing to laugh about either, especially when it’s one of significant size. Nancy Weaver sent a photo of a large bone found on a pond beach. Observed at Long Point, she knew to take only pictures and leave the bone where she found it. That was the right response, since it was most likely the bone of a whale, which is protected by law and cannot be collected without a permit.

I identified the bone she found as a whale humerus, a part of its flipper. The humerus connects to the whale’s scapula and its body mass. At the other side, the humerus is followed by the radius, ulna, carpals and phalanges. Anatomically speaking, the whale’s flipper is analogous to a human arm and hand. 

There are some distinct skeletal differences. Our humerus is our upper arm bone between the shoulder and the elbow. In the whale, the humerus, radius and ulna are fused, so they don’t have elbows like we do. 

Cetaceans, which is the scientific order of whales, dolphins and porpoises, have less bones in total than humans due to their lack of legs and feet. A sperm whale has 184 bones, a right whale 177, and an adult human boasts 206 bones.

And our lifestyles also require that the humerus and other bones have different structures and functions. In land animals, the humerus is generally a long bone and has a cavity filled with marrow. A Cetacean humerus is short and lacks that medullary cavity.

The humerus serves the whale well, allowing it, along with the other flipper structures, to maintain stability, as well as steerage, control, speed and equilibrium while swimming. In death, this and other bones provide a function that outlasts their up to 90-year lifetime.

On land, stripped bones can provide nutrients to other animals and fresh bones provide soft tissues. Rodents are known to practice osteophagy, or bone consumption, and will gnaw on bones for phosphorus and calcium. Hawks, owls, and other predators will clean off any residual flesh on fresh kills.

In the ocean, whale bones that have sunk to the bottom of the sea become hotspots for diversity and even develop “whale-fall” communities of organisms that use them for food. Researchers have found that whale carcasses in the deep reaches of the ocean bottom can provide the equivalent of up to 2,000 years of normal background detritus (nutrient-providing organic matter). It can take up to two years for any soft tissues to decompose or be consumed.

The skeletons also provide nutrient-rich meals for many for several decades. Organisms such as worms and mollusks can dine on the bone feast, as will other scavengers. With the high lipid content of the bones, bacteria can thrive off of them and further break them down to provide for other organisms. The bacterial activity and bone breakdown add to ocean diversity and survival in deep, dark regions where there is no photosynthesis and less of a food web for those who make their living down there.

No matter who a bone belongs to, after it is no longer useful to its owner it will find a life of its own. In the case of these gentle giants of the deep, it can truly be said that they don’t have a bad bone in their body.

Suzan Bellincampi is director of the Felix Neck Wildlife Sanctuary in Edgartown, and author of Martha’s Vineyard: A Field Guide to Island Nature and The Nature of Martha’s Vineyard.