The Estimation of Live Fish Size from ArchaeologicalCranial Bones of the New Zealand Tarakihi,Nemadactylus macropterus

We present a detailed biometric and nutrient analysis of a species of fish in New Zealand known as tarakihi (Nemadactylus macropterus of the Cheilodactylidae family). This fish is primarily caught in deeper waters, and when found in archaeological sites points to offshore fishing. Modern specimens were measured when just caught and bones extracted and measured. Live fish characteristics were reconstructed using power curve fit equations. Bones from four archaeological sites were studied and live length and weight estimated. Size frequency distributions varied from one site to another, suggesting different degrees of access to deeper offshore waters. Modern consumption of the fillet alone represents only 34% of the live weight and has a macronutrient ratio low in fat of 75:24:1. Ethnohistoric evidence favours more intensive consumption of additional body parts in the past, considered unfavourable in modern society, such as the viscera, skin and parts of the head. These contain greater fat reserves than the fillet. A conservative assessment of the amounts of these additional body parts that could be consumed by prehistoric people would provide far greater caloric energy with an MNR (Macronutrient Ratio) closer to 49:50:1. The total meat weight from this species in these four sites was estimated at c. 613 kg, representing a caloric energy of 399 million kcal.

Biometric data · Body weight · Consumption (sociology) · Estimation · Fish <Actinopterygii> · Prehistory · Forensic Anthropology and Bioarchaeology Studies · Pacific and Southeast Asian Studies · Pleistocene-Era Hominins and Archaeology