Bluefin tuna sells for $1.76 million

— Tokyo’s main fish market ushered in the new year with an auction Saturday that resulted in the highest price paid there, and probably anywhere, for a tuna.

A Tokyo-based sushi restaurant-chain owner paid about $1.76 million for a 488-pound bluefin, or about $3,600 per pound.

The record price was offered at the year’s first auction at the Tsukiji fish market, which provides Tokyo with much of its fresh fish. Restaurant owners from Japan and elsewhere in Asia compete annually for the prestige of buying the year’s first tuna, whose meat is prized by sushi fans. Conservationists warn that bluefin has been severely over fished.

The winning bidder was Kiyoshi Kimura, president of the company that runs the Sushi Zanmai chain.

The bluefin was caught by a fisherman from Oma, a town renowned in Japan as the source of the most delicious tuna.

Front Section, Pages 2 on 01/06/2013

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