Oh fish! Giant tuna fetches Rs 82 lakh at Japan auction

A giant bluefin tuna fetched 16.3 million yen (Rs 82 lakh) in an auction yesterday at the world's largest wholesale fish market in Japan.

The 233-kg fish (pictured below) was the priciest since 2001 when a 200 kg tuna sold for a record 20.2 million yen (Rs 1 crore) at Tokyo's Tsukiji market.

The gargantuan tuna was bought and shared by the owners of two Japanese sushi restaurants and one Hong Kong-based sushi establishment, said a market representative.

Caught off the coast of northern Japan, the big tuna was among 570 put up for auction. About 40 per cent of the auctioned fish came from abroad, including Indonesia and Mexico, the representative said.

Japan is the world's biggest consumer of seafood with Japanese eating 80 percent of the Atlantic and Pacific bluefins caught. The two tuna species are the most sought after by sushi lovers.

However, tuna consumption in Japan has declined because of a prolonged economic slump as the world's second-largest economy struggles to shake off its worst recession since World War II.
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"Consumers are shying away from eating tuna ... We are very worried about the trend," the market representative said.