Atlantic bluefin tuna (Thunnus thynnus) is a saltwater, brackish species recorded in the United States. It is found at depths of 0–985 m.
Scientific name: Thunnus thynnus · Water: Saltwater, Brackish
Size: up to 458 cm
The Atlantic bluefin tuna is an oceanic scombrid that comes close to shore seasonally, and it schools by size, sometimes together with albacore, yellowfin, bigeye and skipjack tuna. It is a visual predator that preys on small schooling fishes such as anchovies, sauries and hakes, as well as on squids and red crabs. It is recorded from the surface down to 985 m, and it also enters brackish water. Its range is the western Atlantic, from Labrador and Newfoundland to the Gulf of Mexico and from the Caribbean Sea to Venezuela and Brazil, and in the eastern Atlantic from the Lofoten Islands off Norway to the Canary Islands, including the Mediterranean and the southern part of the Black Sea. Maximum length is about 458 cm total length, commonly about 200 cm fork length, and it can live 32 years, maturing at about 103.5 cm; its eggs and larvae are pelagic. Juvenile growth is rapid, about 30 cm a year, though slower than in other tuna and billfish, while adult growth is considerably slower and about 10 years are needed to reach two thirds of maximum length. It is a commercial species, a gamefish and a commercial aquaculture species, with a very high price category, and it has become rare because of massive overfishing. Fishing vulnerability is very high at 82 of 100 and resilience low, and climate vulnerability is moderate at 38 of 100. IUCN lists it as least concern.
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