Giant bluefin Tuna sold in Japan

bluefin tuna

A whale of a tuna was reeled in off Japan, and turned quite a few heads at a fish market in Tokyo on Friday. This was the largest recorded tuna reeled in since 1986, weighing in at 445 kilograms (981 pounds), and sold for 3.2 million yen ($36,700).

“Many of the people who work at the market have never seen a tuna that big,” said a government official from the Tokyo Metropolitan Government, who regulate the Tsukiji fish market. It is interesting to note that the Tsukiji fish market is one of the largest fish markets in the world.

The monstrous tuna, which was auctioned off at 7,200 yen per kilogram, had already had its guts removed and gills cleaned off, which means this whopper of a fish must have weighed more when it was first reeled in off Nagasaki prefecture this week, the official continued.

“It is extremely rare to see a tuna heavier than 400 kilograms,” he said. Yes it is very rare indeed. Tuna generally only reach the 200 kilogram mark, and it is rare to find one of this size.

The largest Japanese caught tuna ever sold at the Tsukiji fish market was a 496 kilogram specimen reeled in in the spring of 1986. However, the largest tuna recorded in the world came from Canada, caught in 1995 weighing in at an astounding 497 kilograms.

There has been a steep decline in global tuna stocks due to overfishing over the past decades. This has caused Western nations to put in a motion for a trade ban on the endangered Atlantic bluefin Tuna.