Northern bluefin tuna (Thunnus thynnus)
Distribution data supplied by the Ocean Biodiversity Information System (OBIS). To interrogate UK data visit the NBN Atlas.Map Help
Researched by | Morvan Barnes | Refereed by | Admin |
Authority | (Linnaeus, 1758) | ||
Other common names | - | Synonyms | - |
Summary
Description
Recorded distribution in Britain and Ireland
Generally an oceanic species, it may be found off the Scottish coast to eastern, southern and south-western coasts of the British Isles and western Ireland.Global distribution
-Habitat
Thunnus thynnus is a pelagic species but seasonally comes close to shore.Depth range
-Identifying features
- Large streamline fish, up to 300 cm in length.
- The body is deepest near the middle of the first dorsal fin.
- The second dorsal fin is higher than the first.
- The pectoral fins are very short, less than 80% of head length.
- The tail is crescent shaped.
- Lower sides and ventral area are silvery white with colorless transverse lines alternated with rows of colorless dots.
- Dark blue dorsal colouring.
Additional information
Northern bluefin tuna school by size, sometimes together with other species. It preys on small schooling fishes or on squids and red crabs. They are commercially cultured although not in the UK or Ireland (Frimodt, 1995), and have become rare elsewhere because of substantial overfishing (Muus & Nielsen, 1999).Listed by
Bibliography
Collette, B.B. & Nauen, C.E., 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. Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) Fisheries Synopsies, 125
Frimodt, C., 1995. Multilingual illustrated guide to the world's commercial coldwater fish. Fishing News Books, Osney Mead, Oxford, England.
Froese, R. & Pauly, D., 2007. Fishbase. A global information system on fishes. [On-line] http://www.fishbase.org, 2008-02-18
Howson, C.M. & Picton, B.E., 1997. The species directory of the marine fauna and flora of the British Isles and surrounding seas. Belfast: Ulster Museum. [Ulster Museum publication, no. 276.]
Muus, B.J. & Nielsen, J.G. 1999. Sea Fish. Scandinavian Fishing Year Book. Hedehusene: Denmark
Whitehead, P.J.P., Bauchot, M.-L., Hureau, J.-C., Nielson, J. & Tortonese, E. 1986. Fishes of the North-eastern Atlantic and the Mediterranean. Vol. I, II & III. Paris: United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO).
Datasets
NBN (National Biodiversity Network) Atlas. Available from: https://www.nbnatlas.org.
OBIS (Ocean Biodiversity Information System), 2024. Global map of species distribution using gridded data. Available from: Ocean Biogeographic Information System. www.iobis.org. Accessed: 2024-10-08
Citation
This review can be cited as:
Last Updated: 25/03/2008