Bluefin tuna sells for 4.5m yen in Japan auction

Tokyo

A GIANT bluefin tuna sold for more than US$37,000 in the first auction of the year at a Tokyo fish market on Monday, as Japan faces growing pressure to cut back on consumption of the threatened fish.

The 180.4-kilogramme tuna, caught off Japan's northern region of Aomori, fetched a winning bid of 4.51 million yen (US$37,480), said an official at the Tsukiji fish market.