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A Method for Estimation of Live Weight of Fish from the Size of Skeletal Elements

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Richard W. Casteel*
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology,University of Washington

Abstract

This paper presents a quantitative method for estimating the total live weight of fish based upon linear measurement of various skeletal elements. The method has the advantage of being both highly accurate and indicating the confidence limits of the estimates. The method is based upon Sir D'Arcy Wentworth Thompson's concept of “… weigh[ing] the animal with a measuring-rod…” (Thompson 1917, in Bonner 1966:16).

Type
Reports
Copyright
Copyright © Society for American Archaeology 1974

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