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| Winning bidder Kiyoshi Kimura, president of Kiyomura Co., poses with a bluefin tuna in front of his Sushi Zanmai restaurant near Tsukiji fish market in Tokyo Saturday, Jan. 5, 2013. The bluefin tuna caught off northeastern Japan fetched a record 155.40 million yen, or about $1,763,000, in the first auction of the year at the fish market. The tuna was caught off Oma in Aomori prefecture. |
A bluefin tuna was sold for a record 1.76 million US dollars at a Tokyo auction on Saturday, nearly three times the previous high set last year.
The 222-kilogram tuna was caught off northeastern Japan and transported to Tokyo’s fish market. The price works out to a stunning 8,000 US dollars per kilogramme.
The winning bidder, who operates a sushi chain restaurant, said the price was "a bit high," but that he wanted to give Japan’s economy a "boost".
Bluefin tuna’s tender pink and red meat is prized for sushi, but stocks have fallen globally over the past 15 years due to overfishing. Although there has been some improvement in recent years, experts say the outlook for the species is still fragile.
Temperatures recorded since the end of November have marked the lowest to hit China in 28 years
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