This is an epipelagic and mesopelagic, oceanic species, that is abundant in surface waters of 15.6–19.4°C. Deeper swimming, large albacore are found in waters of 13.5–25.2°C. Temperatures as low as 9.5°C may be tolerated for short periods. It is known to concentrate along thermal discontinuities (Collette and Nauen 1983).

This species forms mixed schools with Skipjack Tuna (Katsuwonus pelamis), Yellowfin Tuna (Thunnus albacares) and Bluefin Tuna (Thunnus maccoyii). These schools may be associated with floating objects, including sargassum weeds (Collette and Nauen 1983). It feeds on fish, crustaceans and squid. In the Mediterranean Sea, this species feeds on paralepidids, Paralepis speciosa and P. coregonoides; crustaceans - hyperidean amphipods Phrosina semilunata; and cephalopods - Brachyscelus cruslculum (Consoli et al. 2008).

Use of combined Japanese and US tagging data confirm the frequent westward movement of young albacore and infrequent eastward movements in the North Pacific. This corresponds to albacore life history where immature fish recruit into fisheries in the western and eastern Pacific and then gradually move near their spawning grounds in the central and western Pacific before maturing (Ichinokawa et al. 2008).

Immature Albacore Tuna (<80 cm) generally have a sex ratio of 1:1 but males predominate in catches of mature fish. Maturity is attained at about 90–94 cm (FL) for females and 94–97 cm (FL) for males. Spawning occurs at sea surface temperatures of 24°C or higher. Fecundity increases with size but there is no clear correlation between fork length and ovary weight and number of eggs. A 20 kg female may produce between two and three million eggs per season, released in at least two batches (Collette 2010).

Longevity for this species may be as long as 13 years in the South Atlantic (Lee and Yeh 2007) and in the South Pacific (Labelle et al. 1993, Lee and Yeh 1993). Age of first maturity is estimated to be between five and seven years (Wu and Kuo 1993, Ramon and Bailey 1996). Based on age-structured data from the Atlantic and Pacific (Collette et al. 2011), generation length is conservatively estimated to be between 6–7 years.

The all-tackle game fish record is of a 39.97 kg fish taken off of Gran Canaria, Canary Islands in 1977 (IGFA 2011).