Is This The World’s Most Expensive Tuna?

Bluefin tuna is notoriously expensive, but can it ever be worth more than a million pounds? Apparently so: a Michelin-starred sushi group has just shelled out £1.2m for a tuna at an annual New Year auction, which took place at a fish market in Tokyo. 

Bluefin Tuna Sells For £1.2 Million

The winning bidder was the Onodera Group, a Michelin-starred restaurant group known for its premium sushi. This year, restauranteurs paid 207m yen for the giant tuna, which weighed in at a whopping 276kg – roughly the size and weight of a motorbike.

‘The first tuna is something meant to bring in good fortune,’ Onodera official Shinji Nagao told reporters after the auction. ‘Our wish is that people will eat this and have a wonderful year.’ The tuna will be available on sushi menus across 13 of the group’s restaurants.

Onodera has now paid the top price for five years straight. However, the auction’s highest ever bid was made by self-proclaimed ‘Tuna King’ Kiyoshi Kimura, who helms the Sushi Zanmai national restaurant chain. In 2019, he paid 33.6m yen for a 278kg bluefin.

In recent years, the New Year auction has become something of a cultural spectacle. Since 2019, it has been held at the modern Toyosu market – one of the world’s largest wholesale fish markets – after moving from the historic Tsukiji market. Although tuna tends to dominate the headlines, it’s not the only catch on offer: Hokkaido sea urchins went for a record-breaking 7m yen this year, according to the Japan Times.

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Why Is Bluefin Tuna So Expensive?

Bluefin is renowned for its steep prices. This is a classic case of high demand and low supply: the premium fish has a rich, fatty flavour and is widely sought after in the sushi world, yet overfishing has depleted its population, driving up prices. Bluefin is also the world’s largest tuna species, which contributes to high prices: Atlantic bluefin can reach up to 13 feet in length, and weigh up to 2,000 pounds.

The type of tuna sold at the Tokyo auction, which comes from the coast of Oma, is particularly coveted – known as the ‘black diamond’ of tuna fish and caught in the Tsugaru Straight using traditional pole and line methods.