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| Native range | All suitable habitat | Point map | Year 2050 |
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| This map was computer-generated and has not yet been reviewed. |
| Thunnus thynnus AquaMaps Data sources: GBIF OBIS |
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Thunnus thynnus
Picture by Ticina, V.
Pictures | Videos | Stamps, coins, misc. | Google image
Picture by Ticina, V.
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).
More on author: Linnaeus.
Etymology: Thunnus: Greek, thynnos = tunna (Ref. 45335).
More on author: Linnaeus.
Environment: milieu / climate zone / depth range / distribution range Ecology
Marine; brackish; pelagic-oceanic; oceanodromous (Ref. 51243); depth range 0 - 985 m (Ref. 55291), usually 0 - 100 m. Subtropical; 3°C - 30°C (Ref. 88796); 69°N - 58°S, 99°W - 42°E
Distribution Countries | FAO areas | Ecosystems | Occurrences | Point map | Introductions | Faunafri
Western Atlantic: Labrador and Newfoundland to Gulf of Mexico, and Caribbean Sea to Venezuela and Brazil. Eastern Atlantic: Lofoten Islands off Norway to Canary Islands, including the Mediterranean and the southern part of the Black Sea (Ref. 6769). Reported from Mauritania (Ref. 5377). There is a subpopulation off South Africa. Highly migratory species.
Length at first maturity / Size / Weight / Age
Maturity: Lm 103.5, range 97 - 110 cm
Max length : 458 cm TL male/unsexed; (Ref. 26340); common length : 200 cm FL male/unsexed; (Ref. 168); max. published weight: 684.0 kg (Ref. 26340); max. reported age: 32 years (Ref. 5810)
Max length : 458 cm TL male/unsexed; (Ref. 26340); common length : 200 cm FL male/unsexed; (Ref. 168); max. published weight: 684.0 kg (Ref. 26340); max. reported age: 32 years (Ref. 5810)
Short description Identification keys | Morphology | Morphometrics
Dorsal spines (total): 12 - 14; Dorsal soft rays (total): 13 - 15; Anal spines: 0; Anal soft rays: 13 - 16; Vertebrae: 39. A very large species, deepest near the middle of the first dorsal fin base. The second dorsal fin higher than the first; the pectoral fins are very short, less than 80% of head length. Swim bladder present. Lower sides and belly silvery white with colorless transverse lines alternated with rows of colorless dots. The first dorsal fin is yellow or bluish; the second reddish-brown; the anal fin and finlets dusky yellow and edged with black; the median caudal keel is black in adults. May be confused with several other tunas, these are typically much smaller and easily distinguished by specific patterns of stripes, bands or dots.
Oceanic but seasonally coming close to shore. They school by size, sometimes together with albacore, yellowfin, bigeye, skipjack etc. Visual predators (Ref. 88866) preying on small schooling fishes (anchovies, sauries, hakes) or on squids and red crabs. Live up to 40 years in the western Atlantic (Ref. 88822). Weight up to 900 kg (Ref. 88823). Eggs and larvae are pelagic (Ref. 6769). Juvenile growth is rapid (about 30 cm / year) but slower than in other tuna
and billfish species (Ref. 88867). Adult growth is considerably slower, with about 10 years needed to reach two thirds of maximum length. Become rare because of massive overfishing (Ref. 35388).
Life cycle and mating behavior Maturity | Reproduction | Spawning | Eggs | Fecundity | Larvae
Oviparous batch spawner, with an inter-spawning interval of 1-2 days in the Mediterranean Sea (Ref. 88871). Females larger than 205 cm fork length are estimated to have a mean fecundity of 30-60 and 13-15 million eggs, in the western and eastern Atlantic respectively (Ref. 40805, Ref. 88871). Spawning occurs when sea surface temperatures are between 22.6-27.5 ºC and 22.5-25.5 ºC in the Gulf of Mexico and Mediterranean Sea respectively (88868). Spawning occurs between June and August in the Mediterranean Sea (Ref. 88868). Eggs are released directly to the water column and hatch after 2 days (Ref. 88823). At 24°C, embryo development lasts about 32 hours and larval stages about 30 days. Egg size 1.0 mm, larval length at hatching 2.8 mm.
Spawning grounds are mainly known from the Gulf of Mexico and the Mediterranean Sea, but the presence of mature individuals and larvae far from these areas (e.g. Bahamas and central North Atlantic Ocean) suggest that other spawning grounds may also be utilized (Ref. 88873, Ref. 88874, Ref. 88872). Appears to display homing behaviour with (western-tagged individuals migrating back to specific spawning sites either in the Gulf of Mexico or the Mediterranean Sea) (Ref. 88872, Ref. 88870). Fidelity to natal areas seem to occur once individuals reach maturity, i.e. after returning to either the western or eastern spawning grounds (Ref. 88868).
Main reference
Upload your references | References | Coordinator : Collette, Bruce B. | Collaborators
Collette, B.B., 1999. Mackerels, molecules, and morphology. p. 149-164. In B. Séret and J.-Y. Sire (eds.) Proc. 5th Indo-Pac. Fish Conf., Noumea, Paris. (Ref. 33246)
IUCN Red List Status (Ref. 130435: Version 2024-2)
Least Concern (LC) ; Date assessed: 15 January 2021
CITES
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
Population dynamics
Growth parameters
Max. ages / sizes
Length-weight rel.
Length-length rel.
Length-frequencies
Mass conversion
Recruitment
Abundance
Growth parameters
Max. ages / sizes
Length-weight rel.
Length-length rel.
Length-frequencies
Mass conversion
Recruitment
Abundance
Physiology
Body composition
Nutrients
Oxygen consumption
Swimming type
Swimming speed
Visual pigments
Fish sound
Diseases & Parasites
Toxicity (LC50s)
Body composition
Nutrients
Oxygen consumption
Swimming type
Swimming speed
Visual pigments
Fish sound
Diseases & Parasites
Toxicity (LC50s)
Tools
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Internet sources
AFORO (otoliths) | Aquatic Commons | BHL | Cloffa | BOLDSystems | 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 | GenBank: genome, nucleotide | GloBI | Google Books | Google Scholar | Google | IGFA World Record | MitoFish | National databases | Otolith Atlas of Taiwan Fishes | Public aquariums | PubMed | Reef Life Survey | Socotra Atlas | Tree of Life | Wikipedia: Go, Search | World Records Freshwater Fishing | Zoological Record
Estimates based on models
Preferred temperature (Ref. 123201): 7.5 - 24.7, mean 12.6 °C (based on 3084 cells).
Phylogenetic diversity index (Ref. 82804): PD50 = 0.5039 [Uniqueness, from 0.5 = low to 2.0 = high].
Bayesian length-weight: a=0.01230 (0.01003 - 0.01509), b=3.03 (2.99 - 3.07), in cm total length, based on LWR estimates for this species (Ref. 93245).
Trophic level (Ref. 69278): 4.5 ±0.8 se; based on diet studies.
Generation time: 12.8 (9.2 - 16.3) years. Estimated as median ln(3)/K based on 21 growth studies.
Resilience (Ref. 120179): Medium, minimum population doubling time 1.4 - 4.4 years (tm=3-5; tmax=15; Fec=10 million).
Prior r = 0.24, 95% CL = 0.16 - 0.35, Based on 5 full stock assessments.
Fishing Vulnerability (Ref. 59153): Very high vulnerability (82 of 100).
Climate Vulnerability (Ref. 125649): Moderate vulnerability (38 of 100).
Nutrients (Ref. 124155): Calcium = 13.1 [7.2, 24.7] mg/100g; Iron = 2.09 [0.85, 5.36] mg/100g; Protein = 24.2 [22.6, 25.6] %; Omega3 = 0.393 [0.229, 0.689] g/100g; Selenium = 53.2 [20.7, 152.4] μg/100g; VitaminA = 17.3 [2.2, 167.3] μg/100g; Zinc = 0.319 [0.187, 0.655] mg/100g (wet weight); based on nutrient studies.