You may be used to eating canned tuna for your lunch every day. Which means you may be shocked when you see how much bluefin tuna goes for! Known for its high prices at international auctions, bluefin tuna is used to make the world’s best sushi rolls. And is the meat and fish can go for some serious bucks—in 2019, a 612-pound tuna was auctioned off for $3.1 million! The best and finest bluefin tunas come from Japan, which is known for its quality and therefore has a higher price tag. Known as “sushinomics,” Japan takes a lot of pride in their annual pricing of a bluefin tuna at auction every January. And they love to eat this fish meat too—over 8- percent of worldwide consumption of this type of tuna fish happens in Japan annually.
For more than a thousand years, fishermen across the oceans have been searching for these prized fish to take home and enjoy some of the best meals of their lives. Not only can this meat be used in raw Japanese sushi, but the tuna steaks made from this meat rival the price per pound of Wagyu beef. Japan had to grow this industry after World War II and the country’s need to eat more protein and to supply fish to the canning companies in Europe and the United States. Funny enough, bluefin tuna was not the first fish Japanese fishermen wanted—they were searching for yellow fin tuna. But after the 1960s and the fishing found in the Northern Atlantic, sportfishing and commercial fishing for bluefins grew to large quantities.
What is Bluefin Tuna
Bluefin tuna rose to popularity in the 1970s when western countries started to fall in love with the marbled meat and the incredible taste in sushi rolls. There are three different species of bluefin tuna fish and they are not a fish that can be bred in captivity. The three different types of bluefin tuna are the Pacific, Southern, and Atlantic which is also the largest and most endangered of the species. These are mainly caught in the Mediterranean Sea. All of the species are known to migrate across the world’s oceans and dive for more than 3,000 feet. These tunas also live for up to 40 years. Built like torpedoes, their fins and eyes can become flush against their bodies letting them become intense and fast predators for fish like mackerel, herring, and eels. Compared to all other bony fish, bluefin tuna are known for having the best eyesight. And although the most expensive bluefin tuna weighed in at 612-pounds, they can grow up to 1,500 pounds and six to ten feet long!
There are three different species of bluefin tuna that are all used in sushi. Named after the oceans they predominantly live in, these species are all valuable for fishermen and fish markets—and highly sought after by consumers of sashimi. Pacific tuna grows about ten feet in length and weighs typically a little than half a ton. This commercially valuable, but threatened, species spawns in the Philippine Sea and in the Sea of Japan. Japan does try to harvest pacific bluefin tune in their aquaculture farms. Unlike the other two species of bluefin tunas, the Pacific species was not considered to be a threatened species until 2014 due to overfishing. Currently, the wild population is only 2.6 percent of the typical historic levels.
Then there is the southern bluefin tuna, which is found in the southern hemisphere’s open waters. Smaller than the pacific species, these fish will grow to be a little more than eight feet long and approximately 550 pounds. This species is also typically caught by Australian fishermen, due to their location to the Southern Ocean. In Australia, allowable catches and sizes of these tuna are regulated by state government. Australia also hosts an annual Coast 2 Coast Tuna Tournament, where anglers try their luck at reeling in a winning fish. Due to overfishing, Australia has turned to aquaculture in the southern part of the country since the 1990s. It takes about nine to twelve years for a southern bluefin tuna to reach sexual maturity, so growing them in aquaculture takes a lot of time and patience in order to harvest their meat and spawn the next generations.
And finally, the most prized species of them all—the Atlantic bluefin tuna. Native in both the eastern and western parts of the Atlantic Ocean, as well as the Mediterranean Sea and at one point the Black Sea, this is the biggest species. Weighing 1,500 pounds, Atlantic tuna has always been a prized catch across maritime and seafood history. Much like the other bluefin tuna species, there has been severe overfishing that has greatly decreased the population in the wild.
Due to the high price of bluefin tuna, fishermen use techniques that catch the greatest number of fish to bring to market. This, and the fact that bluefin tuna cannot be sustainably farmed, has led to bluefin tuna being classified as an endangered species. Since bluefin tuna are being pulled from their food chain, this is causing an unbalance among the fish that they would be consuming.
Where is Bluefin Tuna Meat Found
One of the main reasons bluefin tuna is so expensive is due to the supply and demand of the fish existing in the wild versus how many people want it to be in their sushi rolls. This becomes a problem since the three species of bluefin tuna is overfished and they cannot be bred through aquaculture farms with the same quality and success as they have naturally in the wild. This is mainly because of the number of fish needed to feed a growing bluefin—they need 10 times that is what is provided to growing salmons and over many years, which would not yield bluefin tuna quick enough and deplete their food sources in the wild! The most coveted bluefin tuna species, the Atlantic bluefin, is found and caught mostly in the Mediterranean Sea and is known for making the best sushi and sashimi across Asia.
Japan is known for its great handling of bluefin tuna meat. Even to the point that when bluefin tuna fish is caught in the United States, the fish will be shipped to Japan to be handled before being exported about again to sushi suppliers.
These fish can be found anywhere there is open waters, but patience and waiting are needed since there aren’t many fish out there left to hook onto the lines.
Where Can You Purchase and Eat Bluefin Tuna
Every January at the world famous Tsukiji fish market in Tokyo, Japan, there is an auction of a bluefin tuna that is priced at an exorbitant cost. This cost is representative of the consumer demand that is always growing for this fish and the sashimi made from it and how this is a continually growing and increasingly popular fish to purchase for consumption but people around the world. The most expensive bluefin tuna sold for $3.1 million in 2019. This 612-pound fish was nearly $5,065 per pound!
Over 80 percent of bluefin tuna meat is consumed in Japan in sashimi and sushi rolls. You can buy steaks and raw tuna meat in stores like your normal grocery store or a specialty fish shop. But to get the real experience, you need to head to a fancy and upscale sushi restaurant.
And if sushi or sashimi is not your thing, that’s okay—bluefin tuna can also be made into amazing and expensive steaks that would impress all of your dinner guests. No matter which way you want to enjoy this fish, the best pairing is a glass of light red wine, or a strong dry Spanish or French rose, that has fruitier hints that will bring out the medium fish flavor of the tuna.
Tuna is a fish best enjoyed in a nice restaurant. While you cannot go fishing for it yourself, you can eat a great meal that has this meat at its center. Have it for a special occasion or as a way to celebrate something big happening in your lives!
