Huge bluefin tuna the size of a motorcycle sells for $1.3 million at a Japanese fish market

Tuna is big business in Japan, where highly skilled chefs transform the iridescent fish into delectable sashimi, sushi and nigiri. They are willing to pay a lot of money for the best and biggest fish in Tokyo Toyosu Marketwhere live auctions are held before sunrise. But the former usually produces the most stunning bids every year.

On Sunday, a Pacific bluefin tuna sold for $1.3 million (207 million yen) in the first auction of 2025, the second-highest price since the massive wholesale seafood market began tracking in 1999. (The highest price ever recorded was $3.1 million for a 612-pound tuna in 2019.)

Weighing 608 pounds, the colossal fish was about the size of a motorcycle or an adult male grizzly bear. It was acquired by the Onodera Group, a Japanese sushi restaurant chain with a Michelin star, in partnership with tuna wholesaler Yamayuki. The company says it plans to serve the fish at 13 of its restaurant locations statement.

“The first tuna [of the year] is something meant to bring good luck,” Shinji Nagao, the restaurant group’s president, told reporters after the auction. Agence France-Presse (AFP). “Our wish is that people eat this and have a wonderful year.”

Onodera Group, which has eateries in Japan, China and the United States, says it has won the tuna prize at Toyosu Market’s first auction for five years in a row now, as well as in 2018.

A 73-year-old fisherman named Masahiro Takeuchi caught the huge fish on a longline Saturday morning. He was fishing near the town of Oma in Aomori Prefecture in northern Japan, reports said Kyodo News.

“It was as fat as a cow,” Takeuchi told reporters in Oma, as reported by Kyodo News. “It’s like a dream. I always worry about how many more years I can do this job, but I am incredibly happy.”

2 億円 2番目高値，豊洲で初競り

Sushi chefs love Oma’s tuna because the combination of the fish’s oily diet and cold habitat gives them the perfect taste and texture for sashimi, a dish with thin slices of raw fish, reports the Washingtonpostby Leo Sands. According to the newspaper, granny tuna is also called ‘black diamonds’ Oma Tourism Association.

Pacific bluefin tuna is a large migratory fish found throughout the world’s largest ocean. A typical Pacific bluefin tuna weighs approx 130 poundsbut occasionally these iridescent swimmers can increase in size, weighing nearly 1,000 pounds. They feast on squid and various types of fish, including herring, anchovies, mackerel, sardines and mackerel.

Unlike most other fish, bluefin tuna is warm-blooded. They have a unique blood vessel structure known as a countercurrent exchanger, which allows them to retain body heat even when submerged in ice-cold water. This adaptation allows them to inhabit cold areas and dive up to 550 meters deep. It also makes them fast and powerful swimmers: the fish are famous for it cross the Pacific Ocean in just 55 days.

Because of their rich, buttery flavor, Pacific bluefin tuna were overfished for decades. But in recent years, international conservation efforts and fishing restrictions have allowed the species to recover, the Monterey Bay Aquarium.

Their stock has now been rebuilt in such a way that American commercial fishermen can gradually harvest more bluefin tuna from the Pacific Ocean. In 2022 they brought in more than 800,000 pounds of the fish, netting them more than $2.2 million. The ceiling was increased over the two-year period covering 2023 and 2024, when it was capped at £2.2 million. For the 2025 to 2026 season, yes set to rise again.

“Rebuilding the Pacific bluefin tuna stock is not only a success from a biological perspective, but is also a success for fishing communities and consumers, leading to greater economic opportunities and more American seafood available for American plates,” said Ryan Wulff, an assistant. regional administrator for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s West Coast Region Fisheries, in October 2024 statement.