Trophy fish heads are a source of body size information for historical and contemporary ecology

Abstract

This study investigated whether trophy taxidermy specimens of Australia’s largest freshwater fish, Murray cod ( Maccullochella peelii ), can provide accurate records of historical body size. Taxidermy mounts came mostly from informal collections in hotels from across the Murray–Darling Basin, south-eastern Australia, comprising 20% whole-body and 80% head forms. We compared the morphology of mounts to live Murray cod, collected from the mid–Murray River in 2018, and identified the head morphometrics that most accurately described length and weight of whole mounts and live fish. Eight morphological characters were analysed for 60 whole mounts, 172 head mounts and 51 live fish. We found that inter-orbital distance, inter-nare width and upper jaw length were relatively robust to taxidermy processes and were reliable features for predicting fish total length and total weight. Shrinkage in head morphometrics due to taxidermy was evident, however, and we recommend that this be considered when reconstructing length and weight measures. We discuss how estimated body length and weight from head morphometrics of trophy fish, coupled with analysis of the accompanying remaining tissue and hard parts, opens up opportunities to explore patterns in genetics, life history, movement and trophic ecology of historical fish populations and of past environments.

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