Big Blue

by Carolyn Shea

What’s the first thing you think of when you hear the word “tuna”?

If you say “a tuna fish sandwich,” you’re not alone. Humans have been eating tuna for tens of thousands of years.

But did you know that the most valuable fish in the world is a tuna? In 2013, a single, 489-pound bluefin tuna sold for a record $1.76 million at the biggest wholesale seafood market in Tokyo, Japan. That’s more than $3,500 per pound!

Considered a delicacy, the bluefin’s tender red belly flesh—called “toro”—is savored by sushi lovers in Japan and increasingly in other countries around the globe. (Your tuna fish sandwich contains a different tuna species, either yellowfin [] or albacore [].) Served thinly sliced in sushi (raw fish with rice) or as sashimi (simply raw), bluefin tuna is usually the most expensive item on high-end sushi bar menus.