Workers from Kiyomura Co. unload a bluefin tuna from a cart at Sushi Zanmai restaurant near Tsukiji fish market in Tokyo, Monday, Jan. 5, 2015. Kiyomura bid the Pacific bluefin tuna caught off northeastern Japan, for 4.5 million yen or about $37,500 in the first auction of the year. AP
TOKYO — A single bluefin tuna has sold for 4.5 million yen (P1.7 million) in annual celebratory bidding at the first auction of the year at Tokyo’s famous fish market.
Kiyoshi Kimura, the owner of a Japanese sushi restaurant chain, bought the 180-kilogram (400-pound) fish Monday at the re-opening of the Tsukiji market after the extended New Year’s break.
He was the top bidder for the fourth year in a row.
Hundreds of tuna are sold daily at the early morning auction.
The popularity of tuna for sushi and sashimi has depleted stocks globally. In November, the International Union for Conservation of Nature designated Pacific bluefin as a species threatened by extinction.
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