A 612-pound bluefin tuna sold for a record 333.6 million yen (£2.4m) at the first auction of 2019. It was the first auction since Tokyo's famed Tsukiji market was moved to a new site on the city's waterfront. President of sushi restaurant chain Sushi-Zanmai, Kiyoshi Kimura (R), displays a 278kg bluefin tuna at his main restaurant in TokyoIt was paid by Kiyomura Corp., whose owner, Kiyoshi Kimura, runs the Sushi Zanmai chain. Japanese are the biggest consumers of the torpedo-shaped bluefin tuna, and surging consumption here and overseas has led to overfishing of the species. Kiyoshi Kimura (C), prepares to cut his 278 kilogram Bluefin tuna fishExperts warn it faces possible extinction, with stocks of Pacific bluefin depleted by 96 percent from their pre-industrial levels.

Source: Daily Mail January 05, 2019 16:24 UTC