Yellowfin tuna fishing: the tuna that isn’t supposed to be in the Mediterranean

October 6, 2026

One sentence on the FishBase page for the yellowfin tuna leaves no room for doubt: worldwide in tropical and subtropical seas, “but not in the Mediterranean”. The German, Spanish, French, Russian, Japanese, Norwegian, Swedish and Croatian Wikipedia say the same. The Dutch Wikipedia, by contrast, writes that it also occurs in the Mediterranean, the Turkish one even calls it widespread there, and the Italian one considers it unclear whether it occasionally swims in. So a European who wants to catch a reliably documented yellowfin tuna looks to the Atlantic: according to the Italian Wikipedia, in Europe it lives along the Atlantic coast of Portugal, and the English one names the Canary Islands, Madeira and the Azores among the places where tuna are still fished with rod and line today — even if, according to the same source, only a few of these boats specifically target the yellowfin. This article is about the yellowfin tuna, *Thunnus albacares* — German Gelbflossen-Thun, French thon jaune or albacore, Spanish rabil, Italian tonno a pinne gialle, Portuguese atum-amarelo, Japanese キハダ (kihada), in Hawaii ahi.

“White flesh” and a species that never existed

The yellowfin tuna belongs to the family of mackerels, tunas and bonitos (Scombridae). FishBase traces the genus name *Thunnus* back to the Greek thynnos, the tuna. It was described in 1788 by the French naturalist Pierre Joseph Bonnaterre (FishBase, the French Wikipedia). According to the English Wikipedia, the species epithet *albacares* means “white flesh”. The English Wikipedia tells a nice story about the large, old fish with their strikingly long, sickle-shaped fins: they were at first taken for a separate species and called Allison tuna — a name given in 1920 by Louis Mowbray, then curator of the aquarium in Bermuda. The French Wikipedia today lists his *Thunnus allisoni* as a mere synonym. According to the Japanese Wikipedia, the yellowfin tuna and two close relatives form a subgenus of their own, *Neothunnus*.

How to recognise it

The body is elongated and fusiform, only slightly compressed laterally (FishBase). The two dorsal fins are separated only by a narrow gap; the first has 11 to 14 spines, the second 12 to 16 soft rays, followed by 8 to 10 finlets. The anal fin has 11 to 16 soft rays and 7 to 10 finlets (FishBase). In large specimens, the second dorsal fin and the anal fin can become very long — according to FishBase well over 20% of fork length; according to the English Wikipedia they reach almost to the tail and look like sickles or scimitars. The pectoral fins are moderately long: they usually reach beyond the origin of the second dorsal fin, but not beyond the end of its base (FishBase). The first gill arch carries 26 to 34 gill rakers. The caudal peduncle is very slender and bears on each side a strong keel between two smaller ones. A swim bladder is present. A feature you only see when cleaning the fish: the underside of the liver is smooth, without striations (FishBase); according to the Spanish Wikipedia, this distinguishes it from bigeye and bluefin tuna of the same size.

The colour: the back is metallic dark blue, changing through yellow to silver on the belly, and the belly is often crossed by about 20 broken, nearly vertical lines (FishBase). The dorsal and anal fins and all finlets are bright yellow, the finlets with a narrow black edge (FishBase) — hence the name. The Swedish Wikipedia also describes a bright yellow longitudinal band on each side. Be careful with juveniles: according to the Japanese Wikipedia they have oblique white stripes on the flanks, still have short fins and are therefore hard to tell apart from other tunas, especially from young bigeye tuna.

Size: FishBase gives 239 cm fork length as the maximum, 150 cm as the common length and 200 kg as the heaviest published weight. According to the English Wikipedia, the IGFA world record stands at 200.94 kg, caught in 2024 off Cabo San Lucas (Mexico); the previous record of 193.68 kg from the same area (2012) earned its angler a million dollars in prize money. Off Japan they stay smaller, according to the Japanese Wikipedia: at most about 1.5 m and 70 kg.

Where it lives and what it eats

Distribution: according to FishBase, worldwide in tropical and subtropical seas between 50° North and 50° South, at 15 to 31 °C, a highly migratory fish — and not in the Mediterranean. The Portuguese Wikipedia also excludes the Red Sea and the South China Sea. In Japan, according to the Japanese Wikipedia, it occurs south of Hokkaido, most commonly on the Pacific side south of the Izu Islands, and rarely in the Sea of Japan.
Habitat: a fish of the open ocean that lives above and below the thermocline; in open water, but rarely on reefs (FishBase). According to the English Wikipedia, in suitable conditions it also comes close to shore — especially at islands in mid-ocean such as Hawaii, Ascension and St Helena, where baitfish gather close in. On the Nansei Islands and the Izu and Ogasawara Islands, according to the Japanese Wikipedia, it is even caught from the rocks.
Depth: FishBase gives 1 to 1,602 metres, usually 1 to 250 metres. Because it is sensitive to low oxygen, in the tropics it is usually not caught below 250 metres (FishBase). According to the English Wikipedia, it spends most of its time in the upper 100 metres; in one study, 90% of the recorded depths were shallower than 88 m at night and shallower than 190 m by day. A fish tagged in the Indian Ocean spent 85% of its time shallower than 75 m — and dived three times, to 578, 982 and 1,160 metres.
Diet: fishes, crustaceans and squids (FishBase); trophic level 4.4. The English Wikipedia names fast prey such as flying fish, sauries and mackerel, plus schooling fish such as lanternfish, anchovies and sardines; large yellowfin hunt smaller relatives such as frigate tunas and skipjack tuna. According to the Russian Wikipedia, fish from 50 different families have been found in their stomachs.
Company: it swims in schools sorted by size, either with its own species or mixed; large fish often travel with dolphins and hold under floating objects (FishBase). According to the English Wikipedia, mixed schools with skipjack tuna are common; it also accompanies whales and whale sharks, sometimes follows ships and, off Hawaii, holds at anchored fish aggregating devices (FADs). According to the Italian Wikipedia, fishermen even use the dolphins as indicators of tuna.
Speed: up to 20.8 m/s (the English Wikipedia), according to the Russian Wikipedia up to 75 km/h. Like all tunas, according to the English Wikipedia, it is warm-blooded; when swimming fast, its fins fold into grooves.

Spawning every few days

According to FishBase, spawning takes place in the tropical and near-equatorial waters of all major oceans. At higher latitudes it is seasonal, with a peak in summer; at lower latitudes it can go on all year round. The yellowfin tuna is a batch spawner: during the season it spawns every few days (FishBase), and the eggs and larvae drift in open water. According to the Russian Wikipedia, a large female can carry up to 8.5 million eggs, a small one around one million. It grows fast: according to the Russian Wikipedia 20 to 40 cm per year, according to the Japanese one 50 cm in the first and 1 m in the second year — and at two years it is already sexually mature there.

How it is caught — and what you should know

FishBase lists it as a game fish and as highly commercial; its price category is “high”, and it is especially prized for sashimi. The English Wikipedia tells the story of the sport fishery: off Catalina Island in California it turned up shortly after the beginnings of tuna angling; in Bermuda, anglers developed chumming from an anchored boat over productive banks and caught it on light tackle; in Hawaii, it was fished with feather lures. Today, according to the English Wikipedia, thousands of anglers pursue it on the US East Coast, in the Gulf of Mexico — where recreational fishing for it is estimated to have an economic impact of 7 billion dollars a year —, off South Africa, Australia and New Zealand. According to the Russian Wikipedia, alongside marlin, swordfish and sailfish, it is one of the trophies of an IGFA “Grand Slam”. The Spanish Wikipedia praises its speed and strength in the fight.

⚠️ What follows is an inference from its biology, not a sourced statement: a fish that mostly hunts in the upper 100 metres, follows schools of baitfish, travels with dolphins and holds under floating objects is searched for on the open sea — along drift lines, at fish aggregating devices and where islands crowd the baitfish together. A fish that can reach 200 kg and swims at more than 20 metres per second calls for heavy, robust tackle. For European anglers, the documented grounds lie in the Atlantic: along the Portuguese coast and around the Canary Islands, Madeira and the Azores. In the Mediterranean, a yellowfin tuna would be a sensation according to FishBase — and any supposed catch there is rather a reason to check the identification again.

For the kitchen: FishBase rates it as harmless. According to the Japanese Wikipedia, the flesh is evenly red from head almost to tail, lean and firm, and lighter in tone than that of bluefin tuna. In Hawaii it is called ahi and ends up in poke; according to the English Wikipedia, traders know only two grades, “sashimi grade” and “other”. According to the English Wikipedia, most of the world catch goes into cans. An unusual economic figure also comes from the Atlantic: according to the English Wikipedia, handline-caught yellowfin tuna is one of the few exports of St Helena.

And the stock? The IUCN lists it as “Least Concern” — not threatened (FishBase: assessed on 15 January 2021). According to the Russian Wikipedia, from 2011 to 2021 it was classed as “Near Threatened”. In 2010, Greenpeace put it on its seafood red list (the English Wikipedia). FishBase rates its vulnerability to fishing as “moderate to high” (46 out of 100) and to climate change as “moderate” (42 out of 100); according to FishBase, populations can double in 1.4 to 4.4 years. For the Atlantic, according to the Russian Wikipedia, the tuna commission ICCAT sets a total allowable catch of 110,000 tonnes a year and bans purse-seine fishing at the equator from November to January; according to the French Wikipedia, Ghana and Equatorial Guinea close the fishery in January and February. Minimum sizes, bag limits and closed seasons are set by each country — check them locally.

Five contradictions, left open

Mediterranean — yes or no? FishBase and the German, Spanish, French, Russian, Japanese, Norwegian, Swedish and Croatian Wikipedia: not present. The Dutch one: occurs also in the Mediterranean. The Turkish one: widespread there. The Italian one: unclear. And the English Wikipedia mentions the Club Nautico de San Remo and the Club Nautique de Cannes as early organisers of yellowfin tuna tournaments from the late 1960s. The same with the Red Sea: the Portuguese Wikipedia excludes it, the English one names the Bab al-Mandab as a place where it gathers.
How old? FishBase gives the maximum reported age as 18 years. In the section on resilience, the same page works with a maximum age of 8 years; the Japanese and the Dutch Wikipedia say 8, the French, Portuguese, Croatian and Finnish ones 9 years.
When sexually mature? FishBase: at around 103 cm (78 to 158 cm). The French Wikipedia: at 2 to 3 years, at an average of 100 cm. The Japanese one: at 1 m after 2 years. The Russian one: at 50 to 60 cm. The Spanish one: at about 40 cm.
How big, how heavy? FishBase and most Wikipedias: 239 cm and 200 kg. The Swedish one: the longest recorded fish 280 cm, the heaviest 400 kg. The Japanese one mentions literature according to which it reaches 3 m in the tropics. The Arabic one, in its section on Yemen, gives a length of 1,600 to 1,800 cm — obviously a unit error. The record figures also diverge: 200.94 kg (English), 193 kg (Russian), 184 kg (Hebrew), 176 kg from 1977 (Arabic Wikipedia).
How deep? FishBase: usually down to 250 m, at most 1,602 m; the English Wikipedia gives the deepest recorded dive as 1,592 m. The Dutch one: 0 to at least 400 m. The Russian one: adults down to 150 m, rarely deeper than 100 m. The French one: down to 250 m. The Norwegian one: rarely deeper than 100 m, because it needs more than 2 ml of oxygen per litre.

Six names that lead to the wrong fish

“Albacore”. In French, albacore is the official FAO name of exactly this fish (the French Wikipedia). In English, however, albacore is a different tuna, *Thunnus alalunga* — as the French Wikipedia itself points out. The albacore is covered by a separate group in this series.
“Albacora”, “albakor”, “albakora”. For the yellowfin tuna, the GBIF name list gives Albacora in Spanish, Portuguese, Swedish and Romanian, albakor in Norwegian and albakora in Polish; in Italian, according to GBIF and Wikipedia, it is also called tonno albacora. But the same GBIF database also lists albacora, albakor and albakora for the albacore — and, in Portuguese, albacora for the bigeye tuna as well. If all you read is “albacora”, you don’t know which tuna is meant.
“Ahi”. It is sold internationally under the Hawaiian name ahi (the German and the English Wikipedia). In Hawaii, however, the closely related bigeye tuna, *Thunnus obesus*, is also called ahi (the English and the Finnish Wikipedia) — and GBIF also lists 'Ahi for the bigeye tuna.
“Thon rouge”, “atún blanco”, “atún claro”. The French Wikipedia lists thon rouge among the names also used for the yellowfin tuna — but GBIF lists thon rouge as a name of the bluefin tuna. The Spanish Wikipedia gives atún blanco as a trade name of the yellowfin tuna — but GBIF lists atún blanco as a name of the albacore. And atún claro, “light tuna”, is, according to the Spanish Wikipedia, the usual name in the can.
“Rabil” and “rabilho”. In Spanish it is called rabil (the Spanish Wikipedia, GBIF), and GBIF also lists atum rabil in Portuguese. Two letters more, and it is a different fish: according to GBIF, atum-rabilho is the bluefin tuna. That too is covered by a separate group in this series.
Allison, kihada, thamad. The old Allison tuna is not a separate fish but a large yellowfin tuna (the English Wikipedia). GBIF also knows “Autumn albacore” and “Pacific long-tailed tuna”. In Japan, according to the Japanese Wikipedia, the キハダ has many local names — キワダ, マシビ, イトシビ, シビ, juveniles キメジ, and in Kōchi Prefecture the juveniles are called ビン — almost like ビンナガ, the albacore. In Arabic, according to the Arabic Wikipedia, it is called تونة الزعنفة الصفراء, but also قبابة or جيذر, and in Yemen الثمد. And in German? GBIF lists Gelbflossen-Thun, Gelbflossenthun and Gelbflossenthunfisch.

That leaves the question every article in this series starts with: when. Depth, diet and hunting style are covered above, and they are fixed. What changes every day is everything else — and that is exactly where it is decided whether a day on the water is worth it. That is what StrikeAhead calculates: it takes the conditions on your water and tells you when the trip is worth it. And because you don’t know the drift lines and edges off an Atlantic island from day one, StrikeAhead Pathfinder tells you who to go out with: curated guides and skippers, personally vetted before listing — licence and insurance —, with verified catches instead of promo photos, no paid ranking and, for you as an angler, no booking fee.

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