Description

This large, fast-swimming tuna is an important target for numerous commercial fisheries around the world. The streamlined body of the bigeye tuna is dark metallic blue on the back, white on the undersides, and bears moderately long pectoral fins, used for balancing and breaking. The first dorsal fin is deep yellow, while the second dorsal fin and anal fin are pale yellow, and small fins just behind the dorsal and anal fins, called finlets, are bright yellow edged with black (2) (3). The length of the anal fin and the larger eyes of the bigeye tuna, after which it is named, distinguish this species from the similar yellowfin tuna (4).