Thunnus thynnus
Collection Details
Specimens
Photos
There are no photos available for this taxon yet.
Records
Taxonomic Hierarchy
Actinopterygii (Ray-finned Fishes)
Perciformes (Perciformes, Also Called the Acanthopteri)
Scombridae (Mackerels)
Thunnus
Thunnus thynnus (Bluefin Tuna)
Description
This species account was compiled from
Composite (multiple sources) (McEachran, J.D. and J.D. Fechhelm. Fishes of the Gulf of Mexico. University of Texas Press, Austin.)
and processed using AI-assisted text extraction.
It may contain errors in spelling, punctuation, or formatting.
When citing, please reference the original source rather than this page.
Learn more about our species accounts.
Characters
Narrowly separated dorsal fins, relatively short pectoral fins, poorly developed corselet of scales on anterior section of body. Body profile is subelliptical, with maximum girth near middle of first dorsal fin base. Snout is acute and conical. Jaw teeth are small, conical, and uniserial. Teeth are present or absent in vomer and palatine. Gill rakers on first arch number 31 to 43. Pectoral fin is falcate, extends slightly beyond mid-base of first dorsal fin, and has 30 to 36 rays. First dorsal fin is high anteriorly and has a concave margin and 13 or 14 spines. Second dorsal fin is higher than first dorsal fin, is sickle shaped, has 12 to 16 rays, and is followed by 7 to 10 finlets. Interpelvic process is small and bifid. Anal fin is similar to second dorsal fin in size and shape, has 11 to 16 rays, and is followed by 7 to 10 finlets. Caudal peduncle bears a long midlateral keel between two shorter oblique keels. Body is covered with small scales, and a corselet of large scales extends over nape, anterior section of lateral line, and thorax region. Vertebrae number 39: 18 precaudal and 21 caudal. Gas bladder is present. Liver in ventral view has striations resulting from blood vascular network, and all three lobes are about equal in length.
Color is metallic dark blue dorsally and white ventrally. First dorsal fin is yellow or bluish, second dorsal fin is reddish brown, anal fin and finlets are dusky yellow with black margins. Midlateral keel on caudal peduncle is black in adults.
Distribution
In the western Atlantic it occurs from Labrador and Newfoundland to Brazil, including the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea.
Gulf of Mexico
Habitat Associations
Epipelagic and mesopelagic depths in the Atlantic Ocean in tropical to temperate seas
Biology
Food consists of squids, crabs, and ray-finned fishes, such as engraulids, clupeids, osmerids, paralepids, myctophids, scomberesocids, gadids, merluccids, and scombrids.
Maximum known size is 300 cm FL. Maximum known age is about 38 years.
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. Become rare because of massive overfishing (Ref. 35388).
Reproductive mode: dioecism; fertilization: external; nonguarders (open water/substratum egg scatterers); parental care: none. Oviparous batch spawner, with an inter-spawning interval of 1-2 days in the Mediterranean Sea (Ref. 88871). Females larger than 205 cm fork length are estimated to have a mean fecundity of 30-60 and 13-15 million eggs, in the western and eastern Atlantic respectively (Ref. 40805, Ref. 88871). Spawning occurs when sea surface temperatures are between 22.6-27.5 ºC and 22.5-25.5 ºC in the Gulf of Mexico and Mediterranean Sea respectively (88868). Spawning occurs between June and August in the Mediterranean Sea (Ref. 88868). Eggs are released directly to the water column and hatch after 2 days (Ref. 88823). At 24°C, embryo development lasts about 32 hours and larval stages about 30 days. Egg size 1.0 mm, larval length at hatching 2.8 mm.
Spawning grounds are mainly known from the Gulf of Mexico and the Mediterranean Sea, but the presence of mature individuals and larvae far from these areas (e.g. Bahamas and central North Atlantic Ocean) suggest that other spawning grounds may also be utilized (Ref. 88873, Ref. 88874, Ref. 88872). Appears to display homing behaviour with (western-tagged individuals migrating back to specific spawning sites either in the Gulf of Mexico or the Mediterranean Sea) (Ref. 88872, Ref. 88870). Fidelity to natal areas seem to occur once individuals reach maturity, i.e. after returning to either the western or eastern spawning grounds (Ref. 88868).
IUCN Red List Status: Least Concern (LC), assessed 2021-01-15. Resilience: Medium (tm=3-5; tmax=15; Fec=10 million).
Phylogeny and Morphologically Similar Fishes
A very similar species, T. orientalis, occurs in the Pacific and Indian Oceans.
Commercial or Environmental Importance
Fisheries: commercial; gamefish; aquaculture: commercial.
References
Gibbs and Collette 1967
Hoese and Moore 1977
Hoese and Moore 1998
Collette 1986b
Collette 2002g
Collette and Nauen 1983
Robins and Ray 1986
Scott and Scott 1988
Schaldach et al. 1997
Smith 1997
Smith-Vaniz et al. 1999
Collette, B.B. and C.E. Nauen (1983) FAO Species Catalogue. Vol. 2. Scombrids of the world. An annotated and illustrated catalogue of tunas, mackerels, bonitos and related species known to date. Rome: FAO. FAO Fish. Synop. 125(2):137 p.
Pinkas, L. (1971) Bluefin tuna food habits. p.47-63. In L. Pinkas, M. S. Oliphant, and I. L. K. Iverson (eds.) Food habits of Albacore, Bluefin tuna, and Bonito in California waters. Fish. Bull. 152.
Claro, R. (1994) Características generales de la ictiofauna. p. 55-70. In R. Claro (ed.) Ecología de los peces marinos de Cuba. Instituto de Oceanología Academia de Ciencias de Cuba and Centro de Investigaciones de Quintana Roo.
Collette, B.B. (1999) Mackerels, molecules, and morphology. p. 149-164. In B. Séret and J.-Y. Sire (eds.) Proc. 5th Indo-Pac. Fish Conf., Noumea, Paris.
Figueiredo, J.L. and N.A. Menezes (2000) Manual de peixes marinhos do sudeste do Brasil. VI.Teleostei (5). Museu de Zoologia, Universidade de São Paulo. Brazil. 116 p.
Florida Museum of Natural History (2005) Biological profiles: bluefin tuna. Retrieved on 26 August 2005, from www.flmnh.ufl.edu/fish/Gallery/Descript/BluefinTuna/BluefinTuna.html. Ichthyology at the Florida Museum of Natural History: Education-Biological Profiles. FLMNH, University of Florida.
Comments On Thunnus thynnus