Record price paid for massive tuna
Kiyoshi Kimura, president of the Sushi-Zanmai restaurant chain, cuts into his prize purchase at his main restaurant near Tokyo's Tsukiji fish market on Thursday.
January 5th, 2012
07:11 AM ET

Record price paid for massive tuna

Fancy a $50 piece of sushi?

That's what one piece of a 593-pound blue fin tuna sold Thursday at Tokyo's Tsukiji fish market for a record $736,000 is worth.

Kiyoshi Kimura, who runs the Sushi-Zanmai chain in Japan, bought the record-setting fish at the first auction of the new year at Japan's main fish market, a popular tourist stop in Tokyo, according to the Tokyo Times.

The previous record for a fish was set at the market in 2011's first sale of the new year, when a Hong Kong restauranteur paid $422,000 for a blue fin. He took that fish to Hong Kong.

Kimura said he wanted to keep this year's top tuna in Japan. It was caught off Amori prefecture.

"We tried very hard to win the bidding, so that we could give Japan a boost and have Japanese people eat the most delicious tuna," the Mainichi Daily News quoted him as saying.

Despite the record price Kimura paid, pieces of the prize fish are expected to sell for around $5 in his restaurants.

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Filed under: Animals • Aquaculture • Fish • Food • Japan
soundoff (162 Responses)
  1. rick santorumtwit... America's favorite frothy one

    Rick Santorum = bung hole foam

    January 5, 2012 at 10:46 am | Report abuse |
  2. dirty ole man

    How much to eat the tuna in the background. yum yum yum.

    January 5, 2012 at 10:51 am | Report abuse |
  3. B

    I presume it's just a typo, but it's Aomori Prefecture, not Amori.

    January 5, 2012 at 10:53 am | Report abuse |
  4. SpawnOfCheese

    OM NOM NOM NOM NOM NOM NOM NOM NOM!!!

    January 5, 2012 at 10:57 am | Report abuse |
  5. Flippity Flappity

    Pathetic humans will consume anything.

    January 5, 2012 at 11:07 am | Report abuse |
    • rick santorumtwit... America's favorite frothy one

      Rick Santorum consumes his own bung hole foam.

      January 5, 2012 at 11:11 am | Report abuse |
    • josh

      derp.

      January 5, 2012 at 11:26 am | Report abuse |
  6. VLOXY

    KANEKURE!!!!! SUSHI ZANMAI RULES ALL!!! KANEKURE!!!!

    January 5, 2012 at 11:13 am | Report abuse |
  7. le

    nice man

    January 5, 2012 at 11:16 am | Report abuse |
  8. apeman

    As you evolve it becomes obvious that you shouldn't kill to survive.....

    January 5, 2012 at 11:18 am | Report abuse |
    • ape

      wait, what?

      January 5, 2012 at 11:26 am | Report abuse |
    • jim

      Plants are alive, too.

      January 5, 2012 at 11:27 am | Report abuse |
    • HA25

      Really apeman? Circle of Life? Balance of Nature? Mean anything?

      You may want to consider grasping the concept of mortality. Everything has to die and Nature abhors waste. Thus those dead bodies go to feed the living. Be it plants or animals it's ubiquitous.

      January 5, 2012 at 1:11 pm | Report abuse |
  9. Phil_E_Dogg

    Is there something special about the first auction of the new year? I'm not understanding if this price is due to a rare fish or the first fish bought in the new year.

    Perhaps good luck?!!?

    January 5, 2012 at 11:42 am | Report abuse |
  10. bobcat (in a hat)©

    " CHARLIE " Do not swim towards the light.
    Ooops ! Too late.

    January 5, 2012 at 11:55 am | Report abuse |
  11. mb2010a

    I can't stand sushi or even the smell of it...although a tuna steak is delicious.

    January 5, 2012 at 12:06 pm | Report abuse |
    • Terminatus

      Your palate sucks. I feel sorry for you.

      January 5, 2012 at 12:37 pm | Report abuse |
    • john

      uncooked fish has no smell

      January 5, 2012 at 1:13 pm | Report abuse |
    • Dover

      You know nothing about sushi. There is no smell.....unless you are eating at Jethros sushi bar in Alabama. My money says you have never even seen sushi.

      January 5, 2012 at 1:26 pm | Report abuse |
    • Diana

      Uh sushi shouldn't smell.... if it does smell fishy, it's not fresh!

      January 5, 2012 at 2:05 pm | Report abuse |
  12. PuckFeta

    These tuna are not Rare.

    January 5, 2012 at 12:07 pm | Report abuse |
    • Les

      While blue fin tunas are not rare, their populations are considerably reduced. The rarity of this particular tuna is because of its size. Modern tuna fisheries have all but eliminated the possibility of collecting a mature specimen this large. Several other fish like haddock and cod are also almost impossible to collect a mature specimen from because of modern fishery practices.

      January 5, 2012 at 12:31 pm | Report abuse |
  13. fernace

    This tuna needs to be gilded & hung on a wall for that price! I'm pretty sure it wouldn't command that price in American fishmarkets! The price is inflated according to it's worth in Ja.pan! I love sushi & have paid $5 for 2 pieces of rare fish, because it was delicious! I'm wondering how many dolphins were lost in the process of capturing this very large & expensive fish?! How many bluefins are left? As much as I love fish, it's sad that this 1 was worth so much more dead than alive! Makes me almost want to become a vegitarian! Almost!!

    January 5, 2012 at 12:14 pm | Report abuse |
    • TwM

      Nothing could make me become a vegatarian...NOTHING.

      January 5, 2012 at 12:23 pm | Report abuse |
    • Rob W

      Cue the violins. Get a grip.

      January 5, 2012 at 12:25 pm | Report abuse |
    • HA25

      This large bluefin was almost certainly caught on a line with a hook not a net and no dolphins would have been harmed.

      January 5, 2012 at 1:00 pm | Report abuse |
    • Dover

      You claim you have paid money for a piece of sushi from a rare fish, then you whine about how sad it is that this rare fish is worth more dead than alive.......even after you admit to contributing to the problem yourself. How are we supposed to take your fake concern seriously?

      January 5, 2012 at 1:30 pm | Report abuse |
  14. Thomas

    593-pound blue fin tuna

    Rare , and overfished !

    January 5, 2012 at 12:23 pm | Report abuse |
  15. JNEW

    SHAME THERE WILL BE NOTHING LEFT SOON...

    January 5, 2012 at 12:23 pm | Report abuse |
    • TwM

      Plenty of fish in the sea.

      January 5, 2012 at 12:24 pm | Report abuse |
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