Antczak, A.

Debrot, D.

Posada, Juan M.

English

Aquatic Commons

 INTRODUCTION 
Studies of archaeological fish remains have mainly 
focused on the reconstruction of economic and social as-
pects of marine resource exploitation, and more recently on 
the reconstruction of former abundances of marine animal 
populations. Though the analysis of growth bands recorded 
in archaeological fish otoliths have been used to establish 
the season of capture and estimate fish size (Wheeler and 
Jones 1989), few studies have taken advantage of this 
growth bands to reconstruct the age and growth of fish 
populations in the past.  
The abundance of fish remains recovered from ar-
chaeological sites in Dos Mosquises Sur Island (DMS) at 
Los Roques Archipelago National Park (LRA; Fig. 1), sug-
gest that bonefish (Albula vulpes) were exploited by the 
“What can archaeological otoliths of bonefish (Albula vulpes) tell us?” 
 
DENISE DEBROT1, JUAN M. POSADA1 AND ANDRZEJ ANTCZAK2 
1Departamento de Biología de Organismos, Universidad Simón Bolívar 
Apartado 89000, Caracas 1080A, Venezuela 
2Laboratorio de Arqueología, Universidad Simón Bolívar 
Apartado 89144, Caracas 1080A, Venezuela 
 
ABSTRACT 
Studies of zooarchaeological remains have focused on the reconstruction of economic and social aspects of marine re-
source exploitation, and recently on the reconstruction of former abundance of marine populations. The analysis of fish oto-
liths could contribute to document shifts in life history parameters of exploited populations. However, few studies take ad-
vantage of the growth bands recorded in archaeological otoliths to describe these parameters.  In this study we use archaeo-
logical otoliths to estimate de age and length distributions of the bonefish (Albula vulpes) in the late pre-Hispanic times. 
Bonefish were exploited by the Valencioids Amerindians in Dos Mosquises island at Los Roques Archipelago National 
Park (Venezuela) in the years 1300-1500 A.D. The age composition of the pre-Hispanic catches was estimated from sec-
tioned sagittae, and otolith weight was used to reconstruct the total length of the pre-Hispanic bonefish. The comparison 
between the size and age distributions of the archaeological and the modern otolith samples from Dos Mosquises island, 
suggest that Amerindians exploited relatively younger and smaller bonefish in the pre-Hispanic times. The use of archaeo-
logical otoliths to estimate age and lengths distributions of fish in the past may play an important role in the study of the 
dynamics of exploited fish populations. 
 
KEY WORDS: pre-Hispanic fishery, Los Roques Archipelago National Park, zooarchaeology, age estimation. 
 
 
 “¿Que nos pueden decir los otolitos arqueológicos del pez ratón, Albula vulpes? 
 
El estudio de los restos zooarqueológicos ha estado orientado hacia la reconstrucción de los aspectos socioeconómicos 
de la explotación de los recursos pesqueros, y recientemente hacia la reconstrucción de la abundancia de las poblaciones 
marinas en tiempos pasados. El análisis de otolitos de peces provenientes de fuentes arqueológicas podría contribuir a docu-
mentar cambios en parámetros de la historia de vida de las poblaciones explotadas. En este trabajo se examina el uso de los 
otolitos arqueológicos para estimar la composición de edades y tallas de las capturas del pez ratón, Albula vulpes, en la épo-
ca pre-Hispánica. Esta especie era explotada por los Amerindios Valencioides en la isla de Dos Mosquises Sur en el Parque 
Nacional Archipiélago de Los Roques (Venezuela) alrededor de los años 1300-1500 A.D. La distribución de edad fue esti-
mada a partir del conteo de los anillos de crecimiento en cortes de los otolitos, y la longitud total de los ejemplares arqueo-
lógicos fue reconstruida utilizando el peso del otolito. La comparación entre las distribuciones de edad y talla de las mues-
tras arqueologicas y las muestras modernas del pez ratón provenientes de la isla de Dos Mosquises, sugiere que los Amerin-
dios explotaban individuos menos longevos y de menores tallas en los tiempos pre-Hispánicos. 
 
PALABRAS CLAVES: Pesquería pre-Hispánica, Parque Nacional Archipiélago de Los Roques, zooarqueología, estima-
ción de edad. 
Valencioid Amerindians that occupied this island in the 
late pre-Hispanic times (i.e. between A.D. 1200 and 1500; 
Antczak and Antczak 2006). Even though conch (Strombus 
gigas) was by far the most exploited species at that time 
(Antczak and Antczak 2006), grunts (Haemulidae) and 
bonefish were probably two of the most important fish re-
sources for the Amerindians in DMS (Antczak 1999).  
Although there are no official statistics reporting bone-
fish landings in modern times, some of the oldest fisher-
men from LRA acknowledged that since the 1950s, bone-
fish were heavily exploited by the artisanal fishers who 
arrived to LRA from other regions of Venezuela. Bonefish 
were then captured in shallow waters using seine nets, and 
used as bait in longlines to fish for sharks and rays. After 
the use of seine nets was banned in LRA in the late 1980s, 
Page 76  59th Gulf and Caribbean Fisheries Institute  
 
bonefish were only caught occasionally, given that this 
species is not considered a meat fish in LRA and has no 
commercial value in the local market. In the last decade, 
however, this species has become the basis of a profitable 
recreational catch-and-release fishery in LRA (Posada et al. 
2007).  
In this study we combine the approaches of zooarchae-
ology and fisheries biology to reconstruct the age and size 
composition of bonefish exploited by the Valencioids 
Amerindians in DMS. This offers a unique opportunity to 
examine if the size and age distributions of bonefish have 
changed in more than 500 years in Los Roques Archipel-
ago, from the times of the pre-Hispanic exploitation to the 
present. 
 
MATERIALS AND METHODS 
Study Area 
The present study was carried out in Los Roques Ar-
chipelago National Park (LRA), an insular reef platform 
located 155 Km to the north off the central coast of Vene-
zuela (11°44’45’’ to 11°58’36’’ N and 66°33’30’’ to 66°
57’27’’ W). This archipelago is made up of 42 islands and 
200 sand banks, and encompasses an area of 1250km2 (Fig. 
1).   
 
Archaeological otolith sample 
The archaeological bonefish otoliths (sagittae) used for 
this study were recovered during systematic archaeological 
excavations carried out on Dos Mosquises Sur Island (Fig. 
1) as part of the Archaeology of the Islands of Venezuela 
research project, conducted by A. Antczak and M. Antc-
zak. Dos Mosquises Sur Island (DMS) was interpreted to 
be a multifunctional campsite occupied in the late pre-
Hispanic times (i.e. between A.D. 1200 and 1500) by 
Valencioid Amerindians from the north central Venezuelan 
mainland (Antczak and Antczak, 2006).  
   Dos Mosquises Sur 
Specially Protected Areas 
40 meters depth contour 
Ensenada de los Corrales 
Gran Roque 
Los Canquises 
Carenero 
Selesky Crasquí 
Cayo de Agua 
Nautical miles 
Los Roques 
Figure 1. Map of Los Roques Archipelago National Park showing the location of the study site, Dos Mosquises Sur 
island. 
   Debrot, D. et al. GCFI:59  (2007)               Page 77 
 
Otoliths and other fish remains recovered from DMS 
were dated by cultural artifacts (ceramics) in same context 
and by the stratigraphic position of this context. Bonefish 
sagittae were identified using a reference collection com-
posed of modern specimens that were collected within less 
than one kilometer from the study site (see Antczak 1999 
for methodology details). For this study, 125 left saggitae 
from archaeological sites at DMS were used to estimate the 
age distribution of the pre-Hispanic bonefish catches. 
 
Present-day otolith samples 
Present-day bonefish sagittae were obtained from 102 
specimens collected with a beach seine (2 cm mesh open-
ing) in shallow waters (< 2 meters) surrounding DMS 
(Fig.1). All individuals were measured (fork length, FL, 
mm), weighted (total weight, TW, g), and sex was re-
corded. Samplings were carried between 2003 and 2006. 
 
Otolith preparation and age estimation 
The left sagittae from the modern and archaeological 
samples were weighed to the nearest 0.0001 g (OW) using 
an electronic balance. Otoliths were then sectioned trans-
versely, examined under a dissecting microscope with 40X 
magnification, and read for annuli by two independent 
readers.   
Age and size distributions  
Fish length at capture is registered for all modern oto-
liths, but is unknown for the archaeological otoliths. Thus, 
conversion of the pre-Hispanic otolith measurements (i.e. 
weight, length, width) into fish lengths was required to be 
able to reconstruct the length of the fish at capture in the 
case of the archaeological sample. The highest correlation 
with the modern fish lengths was for otolith weight (OW, 
g), therefore the relationship between OW and total fish 
length (TL, mm) for the modern specimens was examined 
using various generalized linear models, to determine the 
best fit based on the coefficient of determination (r2).  
 
Age distributions estimated from annuli counts were 
generated for the pre-Hispanic and modern otolith samples. 
Observed fish lengths were plotted for the modern bone-
fish, while the reconstructed fish lengths were plotted for 
the pre-Hispanic bonefish. The age and size distributions 
for the modern and pre-Hispanic samples were compared 
by a Kolmogorov-Smirnov two sample test. 
 
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION 
Reconstruction of pre-Hispanic fish length at capture 
The reconstruction of pre-Hispanic fish lengths was 
carried out using the relationship between total fish length 
0
5
10
15
20
0
5
10
15
20
25
P
e
rc
e
n
ta
g
e
(%
)
n=112
n=92
Pre-Hispanic
Present
150 250 350 450 550 650 750
Total fish length (mm)
0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18
Age (years)
0
10
20
30
40
0
10
20
30
40
P
e
rc
e
n
ta
g
e
(%
)
n=112
n=92
Pre-Hispanic
Present
Figure 2. Age distributions of pre-Hispanic and pre-
sent-day bonefish (Albula vulpes) at Dos Mosquises 
Sur sland, Los Roques Archipelago National Park. 
Figure 3.  Size distribution of pre-Hispanic and present-
day bonefish (Albula vulpes) at Dos Mosquises Sur is-
land, Los Roques Archipelago National Park. Observed 
total fish lengths are plotted for the present-day sample 
and reconstructed total fish length for the pre-Hispanic 
sample. 
Page 78  59th Gulf and Caribbean Fisheries Institute  
 
 (TLm, mm) and otolith weight (OWm, g) for the modern 
otoliths. This relationship was best described by the linear 
model (r2=0.7027):  
 
TLm = 307.047 + 419.325 * OWm    (1) 
 
The use of equation (1) to convert the pre-Hispanic 
otolith weight OWp into the fish length (TLp) was justified 
since: 1) the pre-Hispanic otoliths used in this study did not 
seemed eroded and conserved the typical shape of the mod-
ern bonefish otoliths; and 2) the parameters of the age-OW 
regression did not differ for both the pre-Hispanic and 
modern sample (p<0.0001). Therefore, we assume that the 
original weight of the archaeological otoliths was not al-
tered by taphonomic factors, and that the relationship be-
tween the age of the fish and its otolith weight has not 
changed significantly over time.  
 
Comparison of age and size distributions  
The age distributions of pre-Hispanic and modern 
bonefish at DMS were different (p<0.001). In the pre-
Hispanic sample, bonefish in the younger age groups (0-4 
years) were relatively over-represented (mean=4.643 ± 
0.233 SE), whereas, in the modern sample, bonefish 
showed a clear shift towards older fish (mean=7.793 ± 
0.374 SE; Fig. 2). Furthermore, the maximum observed 
longevity for the pre-Hispanic sample was 12 years, while 
modern bonefish reached a maximum of 17 years (Fig. 2). 
The distribution of sizes for the modern and pre-Hispanic 
sample were also different (p<0.001). Modern bonefish 
ranged from 188 mm to 742 mm, while the reconstructed 
total fish length for the pre-Hispanic catches ranged from 
334 to 609 mm (Fig. 3). 
The size and age distributions of the pre-Hispanic sam-
ple, witch presumably reflect those of the pre-Hispanic 
bonefish catches, suggests that the Amerindians at Dos 
Mosquises island exploited younger and smaller bonefish. 
The compressions of the age and size distributions of the 
pre-Hispanic catches, compared to those of the modern 
sample, could be attributable to either: environmental 
changes, changes in the marine food web, effects of intense 
fishing pressure or over-exploitation, gear or cultural selec-
tivity.  
The analysis of fish remains from archaeological 
sources have inherent biases, witch may limit their inter-
pretation. However the use of archaeological otoliths to 
estimate the age and lengths distributions of fishes in the 
past may play an important role in the study of the dynam-
ics of exploited fish populations. Further work may extend 
the analysis to other species to test whether this results hold 
for other fishes exploited by the Amerindians in the late 
pre-Hispanic times at Los Roques Archipelago. 
 
LITERATURE CITED 
Antczak, A. 1999. Late prehistoric economy and society of 
the islands off the coast of Venezuela: a contextual 
interpretation of the non-ceramic evidence. Ph.D. The-
sis, Institute of Archeology, University College Lon-
don. 
Antczak, M.M and A. Antczak. 2006. Los ídolos de las 
islas prometidas. Arqueología Pre-Hispánica del Ar-
chipiélago de Los Roques. Editorial Equinoccio, Cara-
cas.  
Debrot, D and J.M. Posada. 2005. A brief description of 
bonefish recreational fishery in Los Roques Archipel-
ago National Park, Venezuela, in: Tarpon and other 
fishes of the western Gulf of Mexico. Proceedings 
from the Third International Tarpon Forum. Cont. 
Mar. Sci. 37: 60-64. 
Posada, JM., D. Debrot and C. Weinberger. 2007. Aspects 
of the biology and recreational fishery of bonefish, 
Albula vulpes, from Los Roques Archipelago National 
Park, Venezuela, in: Biology and Management of the 
World Tarpon and Bonefish Fisheries. J. Ault (Ed). 
CRC press, New York.  


A brief description of bonefish recreational fishery in Los Roques Archipelago National Park, Venezuela, in:

Aspects of the biology and recreational fishery of bonefish, Albula vulpes, from Los Roques Archipelago National Park,

Late prehistoric economy and society of the islands off the coast of Venezuela: a contextual interpretation of the non-ceramic evidence.

Los ídolos de las islas prometidas. Arqueología Pre-Hispánica del Archipiélago de Los Roques. Editorial Equinoccio,

What can archaeological otoliths of bonefish (Albula vulpes) tell us?

http://aquaticcommons.org/13135/1/gcfi_59-9.pdf

What can archaeological otoliths of bonefish (Albula vulpes) tell us?

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