According to Beasley (1928) such hooks were used for catching palu (Ruvettus pretiosus) though they are often erroneously described as shark hooks. The palu is one of the snake mackerels, sometimes called oil fish, and can grow to a length of six feet and swim to depths of 2,400 feet. Beasley describes the use of the hook as follows: "The bait for these hooks consists of a whole fish, generally a flying-fish, split lengthways, laid scale to scale along either side of the barb, thus stretching across the hook and not along its length. In swallowing this the palu, whose jaws are very thin and pliable, gets the barb behind the angle of the jaw." (op. cit. p.31)