Hail' a it an Fishes 157 



Blue Fin Tuna, Great Albacore, or Ahi 



Also known as the Short- Finned Tunny, Common Tunny, Leaping Tuna, 



Tunny, Tuna, European Tunny, Atum Rabiihae (Portuguese), 



Atun, Great Tunny, and Horse Mackerel 



75-5 Thunnus thynnus (Linne) 



Plate I, Figure 8 



The blue fin tuna is deep blue in color above, iron gray on the sides, 

 and grayish beneath. The pectoral fins are short and reach only to about 

 the ninth dorsal spine. The caudal fin is widely forked. The lower rear 

 half of the body is streaked and spotted with small silvery spots, although 

 the body is without stripes. Fine teeth line the midline of the roof of 

 the mouth. 



The blue fin is the largest of the tunas and the largest bony fish in 

 the sea. It usually weighs about 250 pounds but it will reach a length 

 of over ten feet and will weigh 1,500 pounds. 



The blue fin usually spawns off shore in the late winter months and 

 then returns toward the coast to feed after spawning. It feeds on live fish 

 including flying fish, sauries, anchovies, mackerel, bonitos, squids, argonauts, 

 etc. Its only enemy is the killer whale. 



The blue fin tuna is pelagic in all of the warm seas of the world. It 

 is common in the Mediterranean Sea and extends northward along the 

 coast of Europe; it is also commonly taken throughout the Pacific Ocean 

 from Japan to California. 



Bonito or Black Tunny 



Also known as the Oriental Tunny, Kuroshibi, or Maguro 

 75-6 Thunnus orientalis Schlegel 

 This tuna is a large species and very closely resembles the blue fin 

 tuna. It seems to differ from the blue fin tuna by having a shorter second 



