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Thunnus thynnus  (Linnaeus, 1758)

Atlantic bluefin tuna
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United States (contiguous states) country information

Common names: Bluefin tuna
Occurrence: native
Salinity: marine
Abundance: | Ref:
Importance: minor commercial | Ref: FAO, 1992
Aquaculture: | Ref:
Regulations: | Ref:
Uses: no uses
Comments: Atlantic coast (Ref. 168).
National Checklist:
Country Information: httpss://www.cia.gov/library/publications/resources/the-world-factbook/geos/us.html
National Fisheries Authority: https://www.nmfs.gov
Occurrences: Occurrences Point map
Main Ref: Collette, B.B. and C.E. Nauen, 1983
National Database:

Classification / Names

Actinopterygii (ray-finned fishes) > Perciformes (Perch-likes) > Scombridae (Mackerels, tunas, bonitos) > Scombrinae
Common names | Synonyms | Catalog of Fishes (gen., sp.) | ITIS | CoL

Common names from other countries

تونة حمراء أطلسيَّة, 大西洋蓝鳍金枪鱼, Thon rouge de l'Atlantique, ... more

Main reference

Collette, B.B. 1999. (Ref. 33246)
 References | Biblio | Coordinator : Collette, Bruce B. | Collaborators

Size / Weight / Age

Max length : 458 cm TL male/unsexed; (Ref. 26340); common length : 200 cm FL male/unsexed; (Ref. 168); max. published weight: 684.0 kg (Ref. 26340); max. reported age: 32 years (Ref. 5810)

Length at first maturity
 Lm ?, range 97 - 110 cm

Environment

Marine; brackish; pelagic-oceanic; oceanodromous (Ref. 51243); depth range 0 - 985 m (Ref. 55291), usually 0 - 100 m

Climate / Range

Subtropical; 3°C - 30°C (Ref. 88796), preferred 26°C (Ref. 107945); 76°N - 58°S, 99°W - 42°E

Distribution

Western Atlantic: Labrador and Newfoundland to Gulf of Mexico, and Caribbean Sea to Venezuela and Brazil. Eastern Atlantic: Lofoten Islands off Norway to Canary Islands, including the Mediterranean and the southern part of the Black Sea (Ref. 6769). Reported from Mauritania (Ref. 5377). There is a subpopulation off South Africa. Highly migratory species, Annex I of the 1982 Convention on the Law of the Sea (Ref. 26139).
 Countries | FAO areas | Ecosystems | Occurrences | Introductions

Short description

Dorsal spines (total): 12 - 14; Dorsal soft rays (total): 13-15; Anal spines: 0; Anal soft rays: 13 - 16; Vertebrae: 39. A very large species, deepest near the middle of the first dorsal fin base. The second dorsal fin higher than the first; the pectoral fins are very short, less than 80% of head length. Swim bladder present. Lower sides and belly silvery white with colorless transverse lines alternated with rows of colorless dots. The first dorsal fin is yellow or bluish; the second reddish-brown; the anal fin and finlets dusky yellow and edged with black; the median caudal keel is black in adults. May be confused with several other tunas, these are typically much smaller and easily distinguished by specific patterns of stripes, bands or dots.

Biology     Glossary (e.g. epibenthic)

Oceanic but seasonally coming close to shore. They school by size, sometimes together with albacore, yellowfin, bigeye, skipjack etc. Visual predators (Ref. 88866) preying on small schooling fishes (anchovies, sauries, hakes) or on squids and red crabs. Live up to 40 years in the western Atlantic (Ref. 88822). Weight up to 900 kg (Ref. 88823). Eggs and larvae are pelagic (Ref. 6769). Juvenile growth is rapid (about 30 cm / year) but slower than in other tuna and billfish species (Ref. 88867). Adult growth is considerably slower, with about 10 years needed to reach two thirds of maximum length. Commercially cultured in Japan. Utilized fresh for sashimi, also canned (Ref. 9988). Become rare because of massive overfishing (Ref. 35388).

IUCN Red List Status (Ref. 115185)

  Endangered (EN) (A2bd)

Threat to humans

  Harmless



Human uses

Fisheries: commercial; aquaculture: commercial; gamefish: yes

Tools

Bio-Quiz | E-book | Field guide | Identification keys | Length-frequency wizard | Life-history tool | Point map | Classification Tree

Special reports

Check for Aquarium maintenance | Check for Species Fact Sheets | Check for Aquaculture Fact Sheets

Download XML

Summary page | Point data | Common names | Photos

Internet sources

BHL | BOLDSystems | Check for other websites | Check FishWatcher | CISTI | DiscoverLife | ECOTOX | FAO(Aquaculture: production; fisheries: production, species profile; publication : search) | FIRMS (Stock assessments) | GenBank(genome, nucleotide) | GOBASE | Google Books | Google Scholar | Google | IGFA World Record | iSpecies | National databases | Public aquariums | PubMed | Scirus | Sea Around Us | SeaLifeBase | Tree of Life | uBio | uBio RSS | Wikipedia(Go, Search) | World Records Freshwater Fishing | Zoological Record | Fishtrace

Estimates of some properties based on models

Phylogenetic diversity index (Ref. 82805)
 PD50 = 0.5039 many relatives (e.g. carps) 0.5 - 2.0 few relatives (e.g. lungfishes)

Trophic Level (Ref. 69278)
 4.5   ±0.8 se; Based on diet studies.

Resilience (Ref. 69278)
 Low, minimum population doubling time 4.5 - 14 years (K=0.05-0.06; tm=3-5; tmax=15; Fec=10 million)

Vulnerability (Ref. 59153)
 Very high vulnerability (82 of 100)
Price category (Ref. 80766)
 Very high