Tuna - Big Eye
name: Tuna - Big Eye
other names: N/A
Typical tunny shape, and a deep set fish.
Colour: lower sides and belly whitish with a lateral iridescent band along the side. First dorsal fin deep yellow, second and anal fins light yellow. Finlets bright yellow and edged with black. Pectoral fin exceeds the edge of the second dorsal.
An offshore species, with a sea temperature requirement of between 18/200C. They are governed by the thermocline and therefore tend to be a deeper swimming fish, although known to come into the surface layers during hours of darkness.
The food spectrum of bigeye tuna covers a variety of fish species, cephalopods and crustaceans, thus not diverging significantly from that of other similar-sized tunas. Feeding occurs in daytime as well as at night. The main predators are large billfish and toothed whales.
Bigeye tuna can reach a maximum size of 2.36 metres and 210kg in weight, however it is rare for these tuna to exceed 1.80 metres in length and 150kg.
Fishing methods for Big Eye Tuna include trolling whole baits such as mullet, mackerel, bonefish, ballyhoo, flying fish, and squid, as well as various types of artificial lures and sometimes strip baits.
