By New York Post (World News) | Created at 2025-01-06 04:00:08 | Updated at 2025-01-07 16:22:42
1 day ago
A bluefin tuna equal to the size and weight of a standard motorcycle was sold to sushi restauranteurs in Tokyo for a whopping 207 million yen — roughly $1.3 million.
The sale took place at the annual New Year auction at Toyosu Fish Market and marks the second-highest price ever paid in its history.
The tuna titan winners, the Onodera Group, said that the 608-pound tuna would be served at its Michelin-starred Ginza Onodera restaurants and at Nadaman restaurants across the country while its supply lasts.
“The first tuna is something meant to bring in good fortune,” Onodera official Shinji Nagao told reporters after the auction, news agency AFP reported.
The fish was caught off the Aomori region in northern Japan. The Aomori prefecture is one of Japan’s leaders in the fishing industry. Its coasts boast cold and warm current sea creatures, including scallops, flounders, and some of the best bluefin tuna in the country — not just in size, but in quality too.
The Onodera Group has been the top prize winner at the auction for multiple years in a row. Over the last five years, they’ve consistently paid the most out of any participating group for the tuna specifically. Last year, the group paid 114m yen, or $723,221.70, for the best tuna.
The highest auction price since the auction started recording its winners in 1999 was a 612lb bluefin tuna sold for 333.6m yen, or a staggering $2,116,147.04, in 2019. That year, the gargantuan tuna went to Sushi chain owner Kiyoshi Kimura, also known as the “Tuna King.”
The Pacific bluefin tuna has been considered a vulnerable species since 2014, but its population has been increasing, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
