In case you recently went to a fish market to shop some fresh tuna for a sushi treat, you might know that it is worth about Rs. 200/kg. However, a single giant 276-kg bluefin tuna from Japan has gone viral for being sold at a heavy price. The huge fish was auctioned at a Tokyo fish market and the top bidder offered more than a million for the tuna, which was said to be weighing like a motorbike.
Tuna for Rs. 11 Crore
The auction took place at the city's Toyosu Market where one of the popular restaurants bid for this tuna. A Michelin-starred sushi restaurateur, the Onodera Group, paid a staggering 207 million yen ($1.3 million or Rs 11 crore) for this tuna.
Notably, this group shelled out 114 million yen for the top tuna last year.
The bluefin tuna was sold out at a record price. It reportedly became the second highest priced fish after a similar case in 1999 in Tokyo.
Buyer speaks
Onodera official Shinji Nagao spoke to the media after claiming the big tuna. “The first tuna is something meant to bring in good fortune... Our wish is that people will eat this and have a wonderful year", he told the reporters bidding and securing motorbike-sized tuna at the auction.
In 2019, another bluefin tuna recorded 333.6 million yen (over Rs 18 crore) at the auction. It weighed more than the recent tuna displayed at the fish market. The previous one reportedly was a 278 kg specimen. In this case, it was the runner of the Sushi Zanmai restaurant chain in Japan, a popular figure named Kiyoshi Kimura (also known as the ‘Tuna King’) who paid and bought the tuna.
