Thunnus maccoyii, Southern bluefin tuna : fisheries, aquaculture, gamefish

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Thunnus maccoyii (Castelnau, 1872)

Southern bluefin tuna
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Thunnus maccoyii   AquaMaps   Data sources: GBIF OBIS
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Image of Thunnus maccoyii (Southern bluefin tuna)
Thunnus maccoyii
Picture by Fritsches, K.

Common names from other countries

Thon rouge du sud, Atún rojo del Sur, SBT, ... more

Classification / Names Common names | Synonyms | Catalog of Fishes(genus, species) | ITIS | CoL | WoRMS | Cloffa

Teleostei (teleosts) > Scombriformes (Mackerels) > Scombridae (Mackerels, tunas, bonitos) > Scombrinae
Etymology: Thunnus: Greek, thynnos = tunna (Ref. 45335).
Eponymy: Sir Frederick McCoy (1817–1899) was an Irish paleontologist and naturalist. [...] (Ref. 128868), visit book page.
More on author: Castelnau.

Environment: milieu / climate zone / depth range / distribution range Ecology

Marine; pelagic-oceanic; oceanodromous (Ref. 51243); depth range 0 - 2743 m (Ref. 57178). Temperate; 5°C - 20°C (Ref. 168); 10°S - 60°S, 180°W - 180°E (Ref. 54921)

Distribution Countries | FAO areas | Ecosystems | Occurrences | Point map | Introductions | Faunafri

Atlantic, Indian and Pacific: temperate and cold seas, mainly between 30°S and 50°S, to nearly 60°S. During spawning, large fish migrate to tropical seas, off the west coast of Australia, up to 10°S. Highly migratory species. If the current exploitation continues, the population will be below 500 mature individuals in 100 years (Ref. 27905).

Length at first maturity / Size / Weight / Age

Maturity: Lm 122.0, range 120 - 130 cm
Max length : 245 cm FL male/unsexed; (Ref. 5203); common length : 160 cm FL male/unsexed; (Ref. 9684); max. published weight: 260.0 kg (Ref. 5203); max. reported age: 20 years (Ref. 168)

Short description Identification keys | Morphology | Morphometrics

Vertebrae: 39. A very large species, deepest near the middle of the first dorsal fin base. Swim bladder present. Lower sides and belly silvery white with colorless transverse lines alternating with rows of colorless dots. The first dorsal fin is yellow or bluish; the anal fin and finlets are dusky yellow edged with black; the median caudal keel is yellow in adults.
Body shape (shape guide): fusiform / normal; Cross section: oval.

Biology     Glossary (e.g. epibenthic)

By maturity, most southern bluefin tuna lead an oceanic, pelagic existence (Ref. 6390). Spawning fish and larvae are encountered in waters with surface temperatures between 20° and 30°C. An opportunistic feeder, preying on a wide variety of fishes, crustaceans, cephalopods, salps, and other marine animals. Mostly canned (Ref. 9684). A specialized fishery for sashimi-quality has been developed recently by New Zealand fishers. In Japan, it is highly prized for the sashimi markets.

Life cycle and mating behavior Maturity | Reproduction | Spawning | Eggs | Fecundity | Larvae

It is not known whether all mature fish spawn each year, every few years, or even only once in their lifetime (Ref. 30320).

Main reference Upload your references | References | Coordinator : Collette, Bruce B. | Collaborators

Collette, B.B. and C.E. Nauen, 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. Rome: FAO. FAO Fish. Synop. 125(2):137 p. (Ref. 168)

IUCN Red List Status (Ref. 130435: Version 2025-1)

  Endangered (EN) (A1bd); Date assessed: 15 January 2021

CITES

Not Evaluated

CMS (Ref. 116361)

Not Evaluated

Threat to humans

  Harmless





Human uses

Fisheries: commercial; aquaculture: commercial; gamefish: yes
FAO - Aquaculture systems: production; Fisheries: landings, species profile; Publication: search | FIRMS - Stock assessments | FishSource | Sea Around Us

More information

Trophic ecology
Food items (preys)
Diet composition
Food consumption
Food rations
Predators
Ecology
Ecology
Home ranges
Population dynamics
Growth parameters
Max. ages / sizes
Length-weight rel.
Length-length rel.
Length-frequencies
Mass conversion
Recruitment
Abundance
Life cycle
Reproduction
Maturity
Maturity/Gills rel.
Fecundity
Spawning
Spawning aggregations
Eggs
Egg development
Larvae
Larval dynamics
Distribution
Countries
FAO areas
Ecosystems
Occurrences
Introductions
BRUVS - Videos
Anatomy
Gill area
Brain
Otolith
Physiology
Body composition
Nutrients
Oxygen consumption
Swimming type
Swimming speed
Visual pigments
Fish sound
Diseases & Parasites
Toxicity (LC50s)
Genetics
Genome
Genetics
Heterozygosity
Heritability
Human related
Aquaculture systems
Aquaculture profiles
Strains
Ciguatera cases
Stamps, coins, misc.
Outreach
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Taxonomy
Common names
Synonyms
Morphology
Morphometrics
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References
References

Tools

Bio-Quiz | E-book | Field guide | Identification keys | Length-frequency wizard | Life-history tool | Point map | Catch-MSY |

Special reports

Check for Aquarium maintenance | Check for Species Fact Sheets | Check for Aquaculture Fact Sheets

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Summary page | Point data | Common names | Photos

Internet sources

AFORO (otoliths) | Aquatic Commons | BHL | Cloffa | Websites from users | Check FishWatcher | CISTI | Catalog of Fishes: genus, species | DiscoverLife | ECOTOX | FAO - Aquaculture systems: production; Fisheries: landings, species profile; Publication: search | Faunafri | Fishipedia | Fishtrace | GloBI | Google Books | Google Scholar | Google | IGFA World Record | National databases | OneZoom | Open Tree of Life | Otolith Atlas of Taiwan Fishes | PubMed | Reef Life Survey | Socotra Atlas | TreeBase | Tree of Life | Wikipedia: Go, Search | World Records Freshwater Fishing | Zoological Record

Estimates based on models

Preferred temperature (Ref. 123201): 2.5 - 7.9, mean 5 °C (based on 439 cells).
Phylogenetic diversity index (Ref. 82804):  PD50 = 0.5039   [Uniqueness, from 0.5 = low to 2.0 = high].
Bayesian length-weight: a=0.01288 (0.01066 - 0.01556), b=3.03 (3.00 - 3.06), in cm total length, based on LWR estimates for this species (Ref. 93245).
Trophic level (Ref. 69278):  3.9   ±0.53 se; based on food items.
Resilience (Ref. 120179):  Low, minimum population doubling time 4.5 - 14 years (K=0.14-0.15; tm=8-9; tmax=20; Fec=14 million).
Prior r = 0.27, 95% CL = 0.18 - 0.41, Based on 1 full stock assessment.
Fishing Vulnerability (Ref. 59153):  High to very high vulnerability (67 of 100). 🛈
Climate Vulnerability (Ref. 125649):  Moderate vulnerability (38 of 100). 🛈
Price category (Ref. 80766):   Very high.
Nutrients (Ref. 124155):  Calcium = 9.89 [5.80, 19.12] mg/100g; Iron = 0.922 [0.355, 2.441] mg/100g; Protein = 23.2 [21.7, 24.6] %; Omega3 = 0.74 [0.44, 1.24] g/100g; Selenium = 31.2 [8.4, 97.4] μg/100g; VitaminA = 22 [3, 199] μg/100g; Zinc = 0.245 [0.131, 0.490] mg/100g (wet weight);