Yellowfin Tuna are a deep offshore water pelagic fish found throughout the world. At Viking Village our longline boats fish for Yellowfin from Georges Bank to the Carolinas in eddies along the Gulfstream current.

     

At the dock, fish over 50 lbs. are graded for freshness, color and fat content. Consequently, our customers can be assured that product they purchase will satisfy their requirements.

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Fishwatch Facts

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•Geographic range: In tropical and subtropical oceanic waters 

 

•Habitat: Juveniles school with skipjack and juvenile bigeye tuna and mainly stay in surface waters. Larger fish are found in surface and sub-surface waters. 

 

•Life span: About 7 years

 

•Food: Yellowfin tuna are opportunistic feeders, preying on a wide variety fishes and invertebrates, including those associated with Sargassum, a floating algae. 

 

•Growth rate: Variable with size – relatively slow initially and increasing by the time the fish leave their nursery grounds

 

•Maximum size: Up to 400 pounds 

 

•Reaches reproductive maturity: Most yellowfin tuna are able to reproduce at the age of 2 or 3 years when they are about 39 inches in length.

 

•Reproduction: Female yellowfin tuna are multiple spawners – on average they spawn about once every three days during spawning season. They have an average of 1 million to 4 million eggs. 

 

•Spawning season: From May to August in the Gulf of Mexico and from January to April in the eastern Atlantic Ocean

 

•Spawning grounds: Yellowfin mainly spawn in the equatorial zone of the Gulf of Guinea (southwest of Africa). They also spawn in the Gulf of Mexico, in the southeastern Caribbean Sea, and off Cape Verde (off the northwestern coast of Africa). 

 

•Migrations: Yellowfin tuna are highly migratory, moving from west to east across the Atlantic Ocean.

 

•Predators: Sharks and large bony fishes prey on yellowfin tuna.

 

•Commercial or recreational interest: Both 

 

•Distinguishing characteristics: Yellowfin tuna are torpedo-shaped fish. They are metallic dark blue on the back and upper sides, changing from yellow to silver on the belly. True to the name yellowfin, their dorsal and anal fins, and finlets are bright yellow. Tuna species are difficult to distinguish. Bigeye, blackfin, albacore, and yellowfin are similar in shape and are often caught together. Characteristics that distinguish the yellowfin tuna from other species are its elongated anal and dorsal fins on large fish, a moderately smooth, nonstriated ventral surface of the liver, and 26 to 34 gill rakers on the first arch.

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