Sushi Tycoon Paid Record Price For Endangered Tuna That’s Probably More Than You’ll Make In Your Lifetime

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Sushi can be expensive. Especially when you get those fancy specialty rolls all covered with tobiko with scallops or wagyu beef inside. But you’ve never seen sushi this expensive before. In a New Year Day auction in Tokyo, a Japanese sushi tycoon paid a record price to have the privilege of purchasing a giant tuna for an insane price.

Kiyoshi Kimura, the self-proclaimed “Tuna King,” dropped a ridiculous $3.1 million on a 612-pound giant bluefin tuna, which set the record for tuna. The previous all-time record went down six years for a 489-pound bluefin tuna and it was also bought by Kimura, who runs the popular Sushi Zanmai chain. Kimura has been the highest bidder at the annual fish market for seven of the last eight years. For the price paid for the giant tuna, which is an endangered species, you could buy a New York City penthouse or seven Lamborghini Aventadors.

“I was able to buy a delicious, super fresh tuna,” Kimura said of the tuna that was caught off Japan’s northern coast. “The price was higher than originally thought, but I hope our customers will eat this excellent tuna. The tuna looks so tasty and very fresh, but I think I did too much.” That’s over $5,000 per pound. And you thought New Zealand lamb was pricy per pound.

The large Pacific bluefin tuna is officially listed as an endangered species by the World Wildlife Fund (WWF). The giant bluefin tuna faces possible extinction after stocks have depleting by 96 percent since pre-industrial levels. Fishing of the bluefin tuna was significantly down in 2018 and prices for the delicious fish has climbed more than 40 percent.

[BBC]