Big bluefin tuna the scale of a bike sells for $1.3 million in Tokyo

The highest bidder at a Tokyo fish market stated they paid $1.3 million for a tuna on Sunday, the second highest worth ever paid at an annual prestigious new yr public sale.

Michelin-starred sushi restauranteurs the Onodera Group stated they paid 207 million yen for the 608-pound bluefin tuna, roughly the scale and weight of a bike.

It’s the second highest worth paid on the opening public sale of the yr in Tokyo’s fundamental fish market since comparable knowledge began being collected in 1999.

The highly effective consumers have now paid the highest worth for 5 years straight — successful bragging rights and a profitable frenzy of media consideration in Japan.

“The primary tuna is one thing meant to herald success,” Onodera official Shinji Nagao instructed reporters after the public sale. “Our want is that folks will eat this and have an exquisite yr.”

The Onodera Group paid 114 million yen for the highest tuna final yr.

However the highest ever public sale worth was 333.6 million yen for a 612-pound bluefin in 2019, because the fish market was moved from its conventional Tsukiji space to a contemporary facility in close by Toyosu.

The document bid was made by self-proclaimed “Tuna King” Kiyoshi Kimura, who operates the Sushi Zanmai nationwide restaurant chain.

Throughout the COVID -19 pandemic, the brand new yr tunas commanded solely a fraction of their standard high costs, as the general public had been discouraged from eating out and eating places had restricted operations.

Pacific bluefin tuna are the most important species of tuna within the Pacific with adults reaching practically 10 ft in size and 1,000 kilos.

The Worldwide Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) classifies the Pacific bluefin tuna as weak. Nonetheless, in accordance with the Nationwide Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the fish’s inhabitants has been rising lately. An evaluation launched in June discovered that the Pacific bluefin tuna “exceeded worldwide targets a decade forward of schedule,” NOAA stated.