THE HIGH PRICE OF BLUE FIN TUNA

The blue fin Tuna fish will be worth its weight in gold very soon if the trend of Tokyo fish market auction is any indication. The Sushi Restaurant chain of Tokyo was ready to pay as much as $155.4 Million for the 488 pound blue fin.  The record sale was conducted at Tsukiji fish market and the president of Sushi Restaurant chain himself attended the auction. When it caught up in an auction war with a HongKong based auctioneer the price shot up. In last year's auction the price was much below.

The year’s first Tuna catch is very special and the Restaurant owners eagerly participate in the auction to get the first Tuna fish of the year.

The high price of Tuna has endangered them and the Tuna population is diminishing quickly in the oceans. If the trend goes on the species would soon disappear completely. The Tuna fish season is during the winter when the Tunas hunt for small fish which are abundant at that time. The preferred way of catching Tuna is by electric harpoons. It dies instantly when electrocuted with hundreds of volts. Since Tunas are rare and their price high the fishermen engage spotter planes to find Tuna and the fishing boats follow the fish as per directions from the plane.

 Since the price of a Tuna depends on its freshness, as soon as a big one is caught the fishermen dash for the harbor and thence to fish market. In fact Tunas are like diamonds. Many factors are considered to assign their quality like freshness, colour, fat content and shape. There are many varieties of Tuna fish of which the Atlantic bluefin and Pacific bluefin are the most preferred and priced.

The Japanese people love Tuna fish immensely and they are the biggest importers of the fish comprising about 25% of all the Tuna fish catch in the world.

The high priced blue fin Tuna is a big and beautiful fish variety with streamlined bodies for high speed journey in the sea. They travel at speeds ranging around 70 KM per hour, a very high speed and not many persons travel at such a speed on a bike.  Tuna needs high rate of energy to dash through the water  against the resistance of water. While the ability is useful for the fish to catch preys, it is also a curse for it because of its chemical factors that make them extra- tasty for humans.

 Tuna by nature  never take a rest. It  swims and eats small fish  all the time. The energy required for the speedy swimming without rest is produced in their special red muscles which are more in number than in other species of fish. The muscles are specially gifted with a protein,  called myoglobin to burn the oxygen required for those muscles. The death warrant of Tuna fish is written on those special muscles because the fish eaters find those red muscles extremely tasty.

The Tuna fish are difficult to breed away from their natural habitat. The people of Japan are very apprehensive of shortage of Tuna fish and they have stored thousands of tons Tuna in -70 Degrees C freezers. Besides, they are experimenting various methods to breed the fish and if it succeeds even  ordinary persons can taste high quality Tuna dishes at affordable price.