Tokyo sushi restaurateurs say they paid 207 million yen ($1.3 million; £1 million) for bluefin tuna that is roughly the size and weight of a motorcycle.
It was the second highest price ever paid at the annual New Year’s auction at the Toyosu fish market in the Japanese capital.
The Onodera Group, which won the bid, said the tuna – which weighs 276kg (608lb) – would be served at its Michelin-starred Ginza Onodera restaurants, as well as Nadaman restaurants across the country.
“The first tuna is supposed to bring good luck,” Shinji Nagao, head of Onodera, told reporters after the auction, AFP news agency reported.
Mr Nagao added that he hoped people would eat tuna – caught off the coast of the Aomori region in northern Japan – and “have a wonderful year”.
The group has paid the highest price at the Ichiban Tuna auction for five consecutive years.
Last year, it paid 114 million yen for the best tuna.
The highest auction price since comparable records began in 1999 was 333.6 million yen in 2019 for a 278 kg bluefin tuna.
It was paid by Kiyoshi Kimura, self-proclaimed Japanese “Tuna King” and owner of a sushi restaurant.
The Toyosu Fish Market, opened in 1935, claims to be the largest fish market in the world and is known for its daily pre-dawn tuna auctions.
But tuna wasn’t the only catch on offer Sunday, with Hokkaido sea urchins also fetching a record 7 million yen, according to the Japan Times.
