Pacific bluefin tuna

Pacific bluefin tuna
At Tokyo Sea Life Park, Japan
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Actinopterygii
Order: Scombriformes
Family: Scombridae
Genus: Thunnus
Subgenus: Thunnus
Species:
T. orientalis
Binomial name
Thunnus orientalis
(Temminck and Schlegel, 1844)
Synonyms[2]
  • Thunnus saliens
    Jordan and Evermann, 1926
  • Thynnus orientalis
    Temminck and Schlegel, 1844
  • Thunnus thynnus orientalis
    (Temminck and Schlegel, 1844)

The Pacific bluefin tuna (Thunnus orientalis) is a predatory species of tuna found widely in the northern Pacific Ocean, but it is migratory and also recorded as a visitor to the south Pacific.[3][4]

In the past it was often included in T. thynnus, the 'combined' species then known as the northern bluefin tuna (when treated as separate, T. thynnus is called the Atlantic bluefin tuna).[5] It may reach as much as 3 m (9.8 ft) in length and 450 kg (990 lb) in weight.[6]

Like the closely related Atlantic bluefin and southern bluefin, the Pacific bluefin is a commercially valuable species and several thousand tonnes are caught each year. It was considered overfished and subject to overfishing for decades, but catches were reduced in 2011 in order to rebuild the stock and a 2024 stock assessment determined that the species had rebuilt and was no longer overfished nor subject to overfishing.[7][8][9] It is now considered a management success.[7] Monterey Bay Aquarium's Seafood Watch program lists Pacific bluefin tuna as a "Good alternative".[10]

  1. ^ Collette, Boustany. "Thunnus orientalis. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2021: e.T170341A170087840". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Retrieved September 5, 2021.
  2. ^ "Thunnus orientalis". Integrated Taxonomic Information System. Retrieved 9 December 2012.
  3. ^ Collette, B.; Fox, W.; Juan Jorda, M.; Nelson, R.; Pollard, D.; Suzuki, N. & Teo, S. (2014). "Thunnus orientalis". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 2014: e.T170341A65166749. doi:10.2305/IUCN.UK.2014-3.RLTS.T170341A65166749.en.
  4. ^ AsiaPacific-FishWatch (2017). "AsiaPacific-FishWatch, Thunnus orientalis species profile, Biology". AsiaPacific-FishWatch.
  5. ^ Collette, B.B. (1999). Mackerels, molecules, and morphology. In: Proceedings of the 5th Indo-Pacific Fish Conference, Noumea. pp. 149-164
  6. ^ Froese, Rainer; Pauly, Daniel (eds.). "Thunnus orientalis". FishBase. December 2011 version.
  7. ^ a b Fisheries, NOAA (2024-09-27). "From Overfished to Sustainable Harvests: Pacific Bluefin Tuna Rebound to New Highs | NOAA Fisheries". NOAA. Retrieved 2024-11-04.
  8. ^ Fisheries, NOAA (2024-10-09). "Pacific Bluefin Tuna | NOAA Fisheries". NOAA. Retrieved 2024-11-04.
  9. ^ Cite error: The named reference :1 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  10. ^ "Pacific bluefin tuna". www.seafoodwatch.org. Retrieved 2024-11-04.