When we go deep down into the ocean, there are trillions of fish species. Fishes come in various varieties and features; some are edible, while some can be hazardous to your health.
In the universe of fishes, there’s a unique, more significant thing you can call Tuna fish. You must know about tuna if you’re a seafood lover or keep exploring sea creatures.
Nevertheless, this write-up will make Tuna understandable for you. Tuna can be seen in various types and appearances. Presently, 15 species of Tuna are identified, out of which eight species of Tuna are classified as true fishes. In this article, you’ll get all the essential knowledge about Tuna fish, including the True species of Tuna. You merely have to spare a few junctures to skim the writing.
What Do You Know About Tuna?
Tuna is a saltwater fish belonging to the Thunnini, a subgroup of the mackerel family. You might still be unaware, but Tuna is an extraordinary creation of nature. You would be amazed after knowing that Tuna can alter its size and color according to the species.
Tuna fishes are predators, illustrating that Tunas have a high hunting ratio. If you’re a seafood lover, you might know why this hunting is. People love to relish the taste of Tuna in their meals.
Here’s a quick insight into Tuna fish in the given table.
| Kingdom | Animalia |
| Phylum | Chordata |
| Class | Actinopterygii |
| Order | Scombriformes |
| Family | Scombridae |
| Sub-Family | Scombrinae |
| Tribe | Thunnini |
Let’s move along the writing and explore more facts and figures about Tuna.
Speed & Physiology
Tuna is a partially warm-blooded species that is well-known for its speed. When you see a Tuna, you’ll notice that tuna possesses a torpedo-shaped sleek body, which enhances its stamina and tempo.
Moon-shaped tails are also found in Tuna species. Like all sea creatures, tuna have fins that help curtail water obstruction. You can see two dorsal fins in Tuna fish which assist them in moving faster.
For instance, a yellowfin tuna can continuously swim faster than bluefin tuna. Meanwhile, the swimming rate of Bluefin Tuna is 43 miles per hour.
When we talk about the nature of Tuna fish, it can be either cold-blooded or partially warm-blooded. Most fishes are cold-blooded and adjust their body temperature according to the water temperature.
Nevertheless, the best thing about Tuna fish is they can partially go from cold-blooded to warm-blooded and alter their body temperature to move faster for a while.
For example, whether the bluefin tuna is kept in the cold water of Iceland or the tropical water of the Mediterranean Sea, the Tuna will be comfortable in both living conditions.
Habitat
You might hear a myth that tuna fish live on the seafloor or near the coral leaves, but it’s not true. Tuna fish species live beyond the continental shelf in the open sea. The habitat of Tuna fish is also known as the Pelagic zone.
The Pelagic Zone is the largest habitat on Earth with 330 million cubic miles in volume. As you’ve read, the Tuna species have high speed, so they are also known as good migrators.
Tuna is a fish that always needs something to eat. Hence, tuna fishes are considerably always on migration for the sake of food. Many studies have illustrated that Tunas are noticed while moving from North America to European Waters.
For instance, here are a few tuna migrations in search of their food per day.
- Southern Bluefin – Move 8000 feet down the ocean
- Bigeye Tuna – Move 1500 feet down the sea.
It is also said that Tuna species are also seen migrating during reproduction and maintaining millions of eggs simultaneously.
Tuna Fishing
When we talk about Tuna fishing, there are hundreds of Tuna fish that are cooked in the whole world. People love to add Tuna to their meals. Various kinds of Tuna are used while making Sashimi and Sushi.
Hence, people found a way to earn some pennies by fishing tuna. Tuna fish is known as the jackpot, so nowadays, tuna fish come to face overfishing. The most extensively fished Tuna species are given below.
- Skipjack Tuna
- Albacore Tuna
- Yellowfin Tuna
- Bigeye Tuna
- Bluefin Tuna
And numerous other species of Tuna are hunted by fishers daily. The extensive fishing of Tuna has become a threat for both tuna fishes and dolphins. You might get confused thinking about how fishing tuna can be fatal for dolphins.
It is said that the dolphins travel along with the Tuna fish species. Therefore, while fetching the tuna fish, millions of dolphins have been killed. So, the drawback of tuna fishing also includes dolphin bycatch.
Threats To Conservation
There’s no rocket science to understand that overfishing can be alarming for Tuna. It is a fact that if folks keep on fishing the tuna species, one day, the world will run out of Tuna fish.
It is said that a few years ago, tuna was also declared an endangered species. As people start making new dishes out of tuna and start preserving the tuna fish, the fishing rate has also increased to the sky.
However, the good news is that a considerable percentage of Tuna has recently been seen in various oceans. Therefore, it is declared that the Tuna is out of danger but can be extinct if people will not stop fishing for them.
What Are The Different Types Of Tuna Fish?
Tuna fish belongs to the Thunnini tribe. The thunnini tribe has a further classification of Tuna in 15 species. These species are named as;
- Albacore
- Bigeye
- Blackfin
- Bluefin
- Black Skipjack
- Bullet
- Frigate
- Little Tunny
- Longtail
- Slender
- Yellowfin
- Skipjack
- Kawakawa
- Bonitos
- Atlantic Bluefin
These are the prominent Tuna species classified in the Thunnini tribe. Let’s dive in and see the features of a few well-known species.
Albacore
If you’re looking for an Albacore tuna, you can quickly notice them with their long pectoral fins. Albacore is a light whitest species of Tuna fish. When we talk about the habitat of Albacore Tuna fish, the Albacore always prefers tropical waters over cold waters.
Therefore, in summer, you can find many Albacore tuna in your seas and oceans. California anglers always have a sharp eye on fishing Albacore. The ratio of Albacore during the summer season in the waters can vary year to year.
You can’t estimate the percentage before noticing the amount of Albacore in the sea. Albacore is primarily founded in Washington, Oregon, and British Columbia.
Black Skipjack
Black skipjack is a barely seen tuna. If you want to see a black skipjack tuna, you have to explore the oceans of California to Peru. You might be thinking about how you can identify a black skipjack. Let it make it more understandable for you.
Whenever you see a fish with a few broad and straight stripes extended to the back, it will certainly be a black skipjack. The shocking news is that anglers use the black skipjack to prey on their tribe members like huge yellowfins.
Therefore, the anglers were not looking for black skipjack to sell or use as food. The skippy is being caught to manipulate it for the angler’s use.
Bluefin
Here comes the king of Tuna species, bluefin tuna. A bluefin tuna is a giant prize bond for which every second person is searching. Bluefin tuna can be beneficial whether you sell it to the fishers or make a deal with any seafood restaurant.
People are hardly craving bluefin tuna sushi. Bluefin Tuna is a fish included in the research of almost every scientist. It is said that bluefin tuna can eat every creature while it’s hungry.
If you caught a bluefin tuna, undoubtedly, you’d have millions of dollars in your hand—for example, a 488-pound bluefin tuna sold for $1.76 million in Tokyo.
In recent times, a lot of migrations of giant bluefin tuna have been noticed. But in today’s era, only a few considerably minimum-size bluefin tuna have been caught by anglers.
Bluefin tuna is also sub-categorized into three different species. These species are.
- Atlantic Bluefin Tuna
- Southern Bluefin Tuna
- Pacific Bluefin Tuna
Kawakawa
It seems similar to the little tunny found in Atlantic Waters when we talk about kawakawa tuna species. You might not know, but kawakawa is a dark meat tuna fish. Nevertheless, most people still crave this unique tuna fish.
That is the reason behind the fisher’s curiosity to catch the kawakawa. Kawakawa tuna fish is mainly found in the coastal reefs, but in migration states, you can also see the kawakawa tuna fish in estuaries.
Yellowfin
Yellowfin is named the yellowfin because of its bright-yellow finlets. When we talk about the most popular fish among anglers, yellowfin will be prominent in the list. Yellowfins are primarily found in the tropical seas.
The anglers enjoy fishing yellowfins because they know the schooling and feeding habits of yellowfins. When we talk about migration, yellowfin tunas are also the one who keeps on moving from the aquatic to coastal waters.
Final Verdict
Hopefully, you have a complete guide about Tuna fish. This article has the entire helpful information you can need. Now, you don’t have to bother yourself to scroll more about tuna. You know all the facts and figures about Tuna fish. You can also differentiate between different types of tuna fish.