How did numismatists conclude what species of fish this is?

The badge of the city of Kyzikos is the tunny-fish, since shoals of tunny-fish were continually passing through the Propontis on their way from the Euxine to the Aegean sea, these fish were an absolute cornerstone of the Kyzikos economy.

 

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Au contraire!

 

Very good!! But that looks like a large mackerel to me.

 

Obviously the tunny was very important to the people of Kyzikos cause it's on all their coins as has been noted. The coinage of Kyzikos is one of the most fascinating in ancient Greek numismatics.

This is my only example. Bought it for Athena, not the fish!

 

This is something I've actually wondered about from time to time over the decades. After checking a number of dictionaries, it seems "tunny" is British usage and can refer either to tuna specifically or any of a number of fish including tuna, mackerel and related species. Etymologists trace the word to Greek θύννος which must be correct because when I look up θύννος in the lexicon, it comes back as "tunny-fish"!

 

Over the last year I have purchased a few interesting coins minted in Kyzikos/Cyzicus ... what an incredibly interesting region! My question is how long were coins minted in Kyzikos/Cyzicus?
Here we span 450BC (or so) all the way to 570AD.. a millennium of minting history.. a cradle of our civilization.. it really is astounding.






(the below coin is not mine.. I own the same coin but do not have it photographed yet.. so using this as an example). The above coins are mine.

 

Indeed it does! Fun bit of information!

 

I have one of the Kyzikos types in the rarely-found smallest denomination, although the tunny is clipped...



MYSIA, Kyzikos. Circa 450-400 BC.
AR Tetartemorion, 0.20g, 7.5 mm.
Obv.: Forepart of boar left; tunny to right.
Rev.: Head of roaring lion left within incuse square.
Reference: Von Fritze II 10; SNG France 373.

 

Fantastic little coins.
Mine (on the road, just won one as part of my Christmas present). It's a giant - 9 mm 0.40 g diobol. Also with the fish outside of flan ...
I only saw pictures of them, I can't wait to see it in hand.
3 other giants are on the road, a Hemiobol from Caria (7 mm), another Hemiobol with the Athenian owl (6 mm) and a Tetartemorion from Miletos (5 mm).
I didn't know Greek coins can be that small.

 

Here are a bunch of Tuna