Yellowfin tuna
Thunnus albacares
Valid name.
- English
- Yellowfin tuna
- Scientific
- Thunnus albacares
- Dhivehi
- ރީނދޫ އުރަހަ ކަންނެލިReendhoo uraha kanneli
- Maximum size
- Up to about 2.4 m and 200 kg
- Depth and habitat
- Open ocean, mostly in the upper 250 m
- IUCN status
- LC · Least ConcernLeast Concern (LC), assessed 2021
Description
A large, streamlined tuna with a dark metallic blue back, silvery-yellow sides, and bright yellow finlets and second dorsal and anal fins, which become extremely long in big adults. It is a fast oceanic predator of fish, squid and crustaceans. In the Indian and Pacific Oceans it regularly travels with dolphins, whale sharks and floating objects. It grows fast and can live for about seven years.
In the Maldives
The second most important tuna in the Maldives. Juveniles are caught with skipjack in the pole-and-line fishery; large adults are taken by a handline fishery for export, in which fishermen locate the tuna by following dolphin schools (mainly pantropical spotted dolphins).
Sources
- fishbase.se /summary/Thunnus-albacares.html
- fao.org /4/AD471E/AD471E00.htm
- dv.wikipedia.org /wiki/ރީނދޫ_އުރަހަ_ކަންނެލި
- mrc.gov.mv /assets/Uploads/2005-Observations-of-cetaceans-in-the-Maldives-1990-20
- commons.wikimedia.org /wiki/File:Yellowfin_tuna_nurp.jpg
Dhivehi name source: M.R.S. (1997) Fishes of the Maldives, Marine Research Section, Malé (FAO/BOBP MAG/21); Thaana from Dhivehi Wikipedia (fish articles derived from the MRS 1997 Dhivehi edition). Commonly shortened to 'kanneli'.