Comments on: Matau: traditional hooks, innovative design

By: chris paulin

chris paulin — Mon, 22 Oct 2012 21:30:27 +0000

Hi
You can see a diagram of how the hooks worked in a paper available online on the Te Papa website:
http://www.tepapa.govt.nz/SiteCollectionDocuments/Tuhinga/Tuhinga%2018%20Paulin.pdf (see page 30)
The fish did not swallow the entire hook: the bone of a fish jaw is quite narrow in cross-section, so when the fish tries to swallow the bait, its jaw slips through the gap of the hook – when the hook rotates, the jaw is then at right-angles to the gap and too broad to slip back out.

By: t

Sun, 21 Oct 2012 21:39:44 +0000

Hello, great info but I am still trying to visualise exactly how these hooks rotate and ‘trap’ the fish jaw. Are there any diagrams or animations available to illustrate this? Would this not have restricted the size of the fish to be caught? For example, a fish with quite a large mouth that the hook would not be able to ‘trap’
Thank you

By: chris

chris — Sun, 27 Feb 2011 20:12:07 +0000

Hi Shayne

Estimating the age of the hooks is difficult. Most hooks were collected in the late 1800s, but although there are often good details of who collected them, when and how they acquired the hooks is generally unknown.

By: Shayne

Shayne — Thu, 13 Jan 2011 22:01:01 +0000

This fish hooks are so detailed. Is there any estimate of how old they are? Thanks