The most expensive tuna sold at the first auction in 2024. The "Near Threatened" fish sold for 114.2 million Japanese yen, or nearly $800,000, at Tokyo’s largest fish market and is set to be served at a Michelin-starred restaurant in Japan. The 525-pound fish, caught off of the coast of Aomori Prefecture in northern Japan, fetched the fourth-highest price since records began in 1999. Photo: Kiyoshi Ota / Bloomberg
The most expensive tuna sold at the first auction in 2024. The “Near Threatened” fish sold for 114.2 million Japanese yen, or nearly $800,000, at Tokyo’s largest fish market and is set to be served at a Michelin-starred restaurant in Japan. The 525-pound fish, caught off of the coast of Aomori Prefecture in northern Japan, fetched the fourth-highest price since records began in 1999. Photo: Kiyoshi Ota / Bloomberg

By Nathan Rennolds
6 January 2024

(Business Insider) – A bluefin tuna sold for 114.2 million Japanese yen, or nearly $800,000, at Tokyo’s largest fish market is set to be served at a Michelin-starred restaurant in Japan.

The 525-pound fish, caught off of the coast of Aomori Prefecture in northern Japan, fetched the fourth-highest price since records began in 1999, Bloomberg reported, citing Hiroki Matsushita, an official at the fish market.

Seafood wholesaler Yamayuki and sushi chain operator Onodera Group purchased the tuna.

The prized tuna will be enjoyed by diners at the Michelin-starred sushi restaurant Onodera in Tokyo’s upmarket Ginza district, reported The Japan Times.

“If we were going to do it, we wanted to win,” Yukitaka Yamaguchi, the president of Yamayuki, per Bloomberg.

Bluefin are the largest tuna that roam the ocean depths and are built for speed, with a torpedo shape and retractable fins. If they escape the fisherman’s nets and lines, they can live up to 40 years.

The price also marks a return to pre-COVID-19 pandemic levels as sushi chains look to capitalize on returning customers and rising tourism. […]

The world record price for a tuna was set in 2019, when the sushi tycoon and “Tuna King,” Kiyoshi Kimura, paid $3.1 million for a 612-pound fish.

“I bought a good tuna,” Kimura told AFP at the time, per the BBC. [more]

$800,000 tuna to be turned into sushi at Michelin-starred restaurant