Cuttlefish

Cuttle bone, perhaps known by most of us as the stuff we hang in bird cages to keep their beaks sharp, was common in the Yema-po excavation. Cuttle "bone" is actually a light, porous mass of calcium carbonate that forms an internal brace in the body of the cuttlefish, a couisin of the squid.

Cuttlefish flesh, both fresh and dried, was relished by the Chinese. It was listed in customs documents as an important import to San Francisco from China in the 1870s.