Brianna Heaphy
September 17, 2015
Ms. Goodrich
Atlantic Bluefin Tuna
There are
many fish and other marine life living in the Atlantic and Pacific Ocean. The
different oceans are home to all types of marine life. The Bluefin tuna is a
very popular fish that lives in the Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean. The Bluefin
Tuna is from the bony fish family and the Scombridae family; this means they
have two dorsal fins a dorsal fin and an anal fin. Each one of the fins have
different amount of rays on them to help them swim better. They are extremely
fast swimmers and can dive up to 914 feet. The Bluefin tuna can live up to
forty years old and can grow up to six to ten feet and one thousand five
hundred pounds, it is also known as one of the slowest marine fish to mature.
The Bluefin is one of the top predators in the Atlantic. It eats mackerel,
herring, flying fish, squid and eels. The female tunas lay eggs on the Gulf of
Mexico usually every spring and when they hatch they start to hunt for food
right away, Killer whales, pilot whales, sharks and especially humans
are the main predators of Tuna. The Bluefin tuna is considered the
biggest tuna in the ocean and that why it’s the best for making sushi.
The Bluefin
lives in Open Ocean in the Atlantic. The tuna’s habitat is being affected by
all the fishing. The amount of Atlantic tunas is decreasing from the amount of
fishing and is causing the tunas to start living alone and they are school
fish. The Bluefin tuna travels in schools for protection from other marine
animals. The female Tuna nest along the edges of the sea, usually along the
coast line in the Mediterranean or the Gulf of Mexico. They females lay up to
thirty million eggs. The females eggs are unfertilized which means they are
externally fertilized creating eggs. Atlantic tuna are known to be filled with
fatty skin that has to much mercury which can be toxic to our bodies. The fatty
mercury tunas are killed and eaten even though it is hurting our health but at
the same time is hurting the population of the tunas. Because they are being killed for no reason and it affects both human and marine life.
The Atlantic tunas are being over fished in the Atlantic mostly along the Mediterranean Sea coast lines. The Japanese are very big on sushi and of
course the Atlantic tuna is the main target for sushi and most of the Japanese
foods. The tuna are being caught in fishing nets thousands at a time, and
because the tuna like to travel in schools they fishermen catch even more than
if they traveled individually. The Bluefin tunas are decreasing in amounts because
of so much fishing. The Bluefin is an open ocean swimmer so there are not many
issues with trash and damage to these animals. The Bluefin tuna is very
important to our stock market and can be sold for up to 1.75 million per fish
depending on the size. If the fishing men keep catching them by dozens we will
lose money and the Bluefin will be completed gone from the Atlantic Ocean. It
will cause many issues for the market places and businesses, and could even
shut them down from the decrease levels on customers due to no tuna fish.
