A giant 612-pound bluefin tuna was just sold for a record $3.1 million in the annual New Year’s tuna auction in Tokyo. The fish was bought by Kiyoshi Kimura, who’s known as “the tuna king,” and who owns a series of restaurants there. Last year Kimura, pictured above with his latest catch, paid $632,000 for a smaller bluefin, but in 2013 he paid $1.76 million for a 488-pound bluefin, the previous record.
Kimura was happy after the auction. He told the AP he was surprised at the high price, but said that “the quality of tuna I bought is the best.” The new price works out to be about $5,050 a pound.
The new record-setting tuna was caught off the northern coast of Japan. Bluefin are an endangered species. They can live up to 40 years, but the population has been depleted on recent years by overfishing. About 80 percent of the bluefin tuna catch goes to Japan for use in sushi and sashimi. Read more:
