Fish bone chemistry and ultrastructure: implications for taphonomy and stable isotope analysis

Szpak, Paul

doi:10.1016/j.jas.2011.07.022

Cited by 248 publications

(185 citation statements)

References 221 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

172

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…A literature review of percentage ash values for acellular and cellular fish bone (N>20 species for each bone type; M.D., J. W. C. Dunlop and R.S., in preparation) suggests that a lower mineral content is a consistent feature of cellular bone (~50% ash) relative to acellular bone (~58% ash); these differences are also evident in Toppe et al's (Toppe et al, 2007) comparison of several acellular and cellular species. Furthermore, compared with amniote bones, which have ~61-74% dry ash content (Currey, 2008;Szpak, 2011), fish bones are in general less well mineralized (Biltz and Pellegrino, 1969;Lees, 1987a;Szpak, 2011;Toppe et al, 2007) (Fig.7B). This supports theoretical conjectures that mineral is less tightly packed among collagen fibrils in fish bone relative to mammalian bone (Lees et al, 1984;Lees, 1987a;Lees, 1987b), but the reasons for the differences among fish species are unclear; a much wider array of species must be studied to understand this feature in a phylogenetic context and studies correlating bulk tissue mineral density and nanoscale mineral packing would be very instructive.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Comparison of structural, architectural and mechanical aspects of cellular and acellular bone in two teleost fish

Cohen

Dean

Shipov

et al. 2012

Journal of Experimental Biology

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

SUMMARYThe histological diversity of the skeletal tissues of fishes is impressive compared with that of other vertebrate groups, yet our understanding of the functional consequences of this diversity is limited. In particular, although it has been known since the mid1800s that a large number of fish species possess acellular bones, the mechanical advantages and consequences of this structural characteristic -and therefore the nature of the evolution of this feature -remain unclear. Although several studies have examined the material properties of fish bone, these have used a variety of techniques and there have been no direct contrasts of acellular and cellular bone. We report on a comparison of the structural and mechanical properties of the ribs and opercula between two freshwater fish -the common carp Cyprinus carpio (a fish with cellular bone) and the tilapia Oreochromis aureus (a fish with acellular bone). We used light microscopy to show that the bones in both fish species exhibit poor blood supply and possess discrete tissue zones, with visible layering suggesting differences in the underlying collagen architecture. We performed identical micromechanical testing protocols on samples of the two bone types to determine the mechanical properties of the bone material of opercula and ribs. Our data support the consensus of literature values, indicating that Youngʼs moduli of cellular and acellular bones are in the same range, and lower than Youngʼs moduli of the bones of mammals and birds. Despite these similarities in mechanical properties between the bone tissues of the fish species tested here, cellular bone had significantly lower mineral content than acellular bone; furthermore, the percentage ash content and bone mineral density values (derived from micro-CT scans) show that the bone of these fishes is less mineralized than amniote bone. Although we cannot generalize from our data to the numerous remaining teleost species, the results presented here suggest that while cellular and acellular fish bone may perform similarly from a mechanical standpoint, there are previously unappreciated differences in the structure and composition of these bone types.

show abstract

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Comparison of structural, architectural and mechanical aspects of cellular and acellular bone in two teleost fish

Cohen

Dean

Shipov

et al. 2012

Journal of Experimental Biology

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Although quantitative data on herring bone-density measurements have not been conducted, their bones are notably smaller and more delicate relative to most other measured fish species (88). Moreover, the cellular structure of herring bone likely makes them more susceptible to microbial degeneration relative to other fish (89), indicating this species would likely be less well-preserved in the archaeological record.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Archaeological data provide alternative hypotheses on Pacific herring (Clupea pallasii) distribution, abundance, and variability

McKechnie

Lepofsky

Moss

et al. 2014

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

118

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Pacific herring (Clupea pallasii), a foundation of coastal socialecological systems, is in decline throughout much of its range. We assembled data on fish bones from 171 archaeological sites from Alaska, British Columbia, and Washington to provide proxy measures of past herring distribution and abundance. The dataset represents 435,777 fish bones, dating throughout the Holocene, but primarily to the last 2,500 y. Herring is the single-most ubiquitous fish taxon (99% ubiquity) and among the two most abundant taxa in 80% of individual assemblages. Herring bones are archaeologically abundant in all regions, but are superabundant in the northern Salish Sea and southwestern Vancouver Island areas. Analyses of temporal variability in 50 well-sampled sites reveals that herring exhibits consistently high abundance (>20% of fish bones) and consistently low variance (<10%) within the majority of sites (88% and 96%, respectively). We pose three alternative hypotheses to account for the disjunction between modern and archaeological herring populations. We reject the first hypothesis that the archaeological data overestimate past abundance and underestimate past variability. We are unable to distinguish between the second two hypotheses, which both assert that the archaeological data reflect a higher mean abundance of herring in the past, but differ in whether variability was similar to or less than that observed recently. In either case, sufficient herring was consistently available to meet the needs of harvesters, even if variability is damped in the archaeological record. These results provide baseline information prior to herring depletion and can inform modern management.historical ecology | fisheries | forage fish | Northwest Coast | archaeology

show abstract

“…Hydroxyproline is a major component of collagen (190) and plays a key role in maintaining collagen stability (191). Hydroxyproline is present in only few proteins apart from collagen, making it a sensitive and specific marker for collagen detection.…”

Section: Quantifications Of Fibrosismentioning

confidence: 99%

Low Circulating Levels of Mitochondrial and High Levels of Nuclear DNA Predict Mortality in Chronic Heart Failure

Dhondup

Ueland

Dahl

et al. 2016

Journal of Cardiac Failure

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Fish bone chemistry and ultrastructure: implications for taphonomy and stable isotope analysis

Cited by 248 publications

References 221 publications

Comparison of structural, architectural and mechanical aspects of cellular and acellular bone in two teleost fish

Comparison of structural, architectural and mechanical aspects of cellular and acellular bone in two teleost fish

Archaeological data provide alternative hypotheses on Pacific herring (Clupea pallasii) distribution, abundance, and variability

Low Circulating Levels of Mitochondrial and High Levels of Nuclear DNA Predict Mortality in Chronic Heart Failure

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About