Japan sushi tycoon pays record price for endangered bluefin tuna

Tokyo - A Japanese sushi tycoon has paid a record $3.1 million for a giant tuna at an auction here.

Self-styled "Tuna King" Kiyoshi Kimura bought the 278 kilogram bluefin tuna, which is an endangered species, the BBC reported on Saturday.

Wholesalers and sushi company owners often pay high prices for the best fish at the first pre-dawn auction of the New Year.

Bluefin tuna are an endangered species, as per the World Wildlife Fund.

In December, Japan announced it will restart commercial whaling and would withdraw from the International Whaling Commission (IWC), which banned commercial whaling in 1986 after some species were driven almost to extinction.

There have been mixed reactions from social media:

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Japanese sushi tycoon Kiyoshi Kimura pays a record £2.5m for a single bluefin tuna at the new year auction in Toyosu fish market. Photo by Kazuhiro Nogi / AFP #bluefintuna #sushi #toyosu

A post shared by The Independent(@the.independent) on Jan 5, 2019 at 7:19am PST