A bluefin tuna sold for $1.8 million (193.2 million yen) in the first auction of the new year at Tokyo’s Toyosu fish market, the second highest price on record, NHK broadcaster reported.
The tuna was caught off northern Aomori Prefecture and weighed 608-pound (276 kilograms), according to NHK, which translates into a price of about $6.460 (700,000 yen) per kilogram.
The successful bidder was Kiyoshi Kimura, the head of the company that runs sushi restaurant chain “Sushizanmai,” NHK said.
The huge tuna was caught in Japan’s northern Aomori prefecture, NHK reported.
Kimura said the fish was expensive, but that he was glad to get it in the first New Year auction of the new Reiwa era, NHK reported.
Last year Kimura paid a record $3.1 million (333.6 million yen) for a tuna at the auction, exceeding his previous record price in 2013.
Bluefin are the largest tuna, and can live up to 40 years, according to the World Wildlife Fund.
An endangered species, they migrate across all oceans, can weigh 1,500 pounds and reach 10 feet in length.
The CNN Wire contributed to this report.
