Yellowfin tuna

Description

Thunnus albacares (Bonnaterre,1788),known by the common names of albacore,yellowfin-of-lage,albacore-dog ( Brazil ),tuna yellow (from the English " yellowfin "),tuna oledê (Sao Tome and Principe),tuna -de-gall-to-aft (Cape Verde),horseradish (Angola) and tail-section (Cape Verde) is a species of tuna with natural distribution enlarged in water tropical andsubtropical regions of all oceans,with the exception of the Mediterranean,Red Sea and South China Sea.It is a large fish,reaching a weight of 200 kg,but of fast growth,with a maximum age estimated in nine years.It has a pelagic behavior,forms schools by size,but can join with other species;larger sizes are often seen with dolphins.The reproduction occurs mainly in the summer;eggs and planktonic larvae.It has the second fin (fin) dorsal and anal very large (hence the name "gall-to-aft) and yellow.The body is dark blue on the back,gradually becoming yellow to white on the belly.It is of great importance for fishing,being marketed frozen,canned,fresh or smoked;reaches a high value for the production of sashimi.Catches have increased exponentially since the mid- twentieth century until 2003,when they reached about 1.5 million tonnes worldwide;from that year,catches show a decreasing trend.The most commonly used fishing method for this species is the deep-sea longline,operated mainly by fleets from Japan,South Korea and Taiwan;the most productive fishing area is the equatorial Pacific.