A monster tuna caught off Japan turned heads at a Tokyo fish
market Friday, where the 445 kilogram (981 pound) bluefin -- the
biggest caught here since 1986 -- sold for 3.2 million yen (36,700
dollars).
"Many of the people who work at the market have never seen a
tuna that big," said an official of the Tokyo Metropolitan
Government, which runs the Tsukiji fish market, the world's biggest
seafood market.
The fish, which was auctioned at 7,200 yen per kilogram, had
already been gutted and cleaned of its gills, meaning it must have
weighed more when it was caught off Nagasaki prefecture this week,
the official said.
"It is extremely rare to see a tuna heavier than 400 kilograms,"
he said.
The biggest Japanese tuna sold at Tsukiji was a 496-kilogram
beast caught in April 1986 -- but the biggest tuna from the world's
oceans to be sold here was a Canadian fish caught in 1995 weighing
497 kilograms.
Decades of overfishing have seen global tuna stocks crash,
pushing some Western nations to call for a trade ban on endangered
Atlantic bluefin tuna.
Japan consumes three-quarters of the global bluefin catch, a
highly prized sushi ingredient, known in Japan as "kuro maguro"
(black tuna) and dubbed by sushi connoisseurs as the "black
diamond" because of its scarcity.
A piece of "otoro" or fatty underbelly can cost 2,000 yen (22
dollars) at high-end Tokyo restaurants.
