Hope it's not bearing material....

Only steel is magnetic, which he said it is. Looks to be iridited- a surface treatment for hardened steels. I've seen steel "flake" under heavy loads- it looks like scale flaking off. I have also seen these types of failures on case-hardened steel- the treatment only penetrates a few thousandths.

My guess- you've lost this piece from your oil pump.

Thanks for all the ideas. It seems I have a very unusual situation brewing here. Today, I removed the check valve after the pre-luber. It was stuck open. It had a small piece of brass looking material in it, that was holding the valve open a bit. It was not magnetic. No way did these 2 pieces originate from the same place.
The next thing I took apart was the pre-luber pump. I found a small piece of the corner of 1 of the impellers that was broken off. I dont have a picture, didnt take the camera to the boat yard. That explains the lower oil pressure. As I suspected, the slightly hung open check valve must have been alllowing oil back through the pre-luber and into the oil pan. I ran the boat today, oil pressure was back to normal. No noises, engine ran perfect. Everything is good, EXCEPT where the hell did the piece of metal in the oil filter come from? I am not running a bronze distributor gear. I believe this piece is too big to pass through the oil passages in the block. I swear, the filter was built around this thing. The only thing I can think of, is to run it for a few more hours and cut the filter open again. Here are a few more pictures.

Sorry Vinny, but that funny.

exactly what I was thinking

more, remember this piece is magnetic

Yeah, I was waiting for that. Surprised it took as long as it did.

Good thing the filter did its job!

Have you noticed any difference in oil temperature?

No, everything was great today.

Vinny, could it be a peice of the main thrust bearing ? don't know how it would get there though ???? good luck, Rob