Creature Feature Encyclopedia: Osteichthyes

Yellow Fin Tuna Thunnus Albacares

The eggs of Yellowfin Tuna are the size of pinheads. Just two days after they are laid, the hatchlings emerge. The young have enormous appetites and can gain up to 60 pounds in one year. Adults may reach nearly seven feet in length and may weigh up to 400 pounds. The tapered shape of the yellowfin allows for maximum underwaterspeed. When fishermen use old-fashioned nets to catch tuna, they also trap or injure the dolphins that swim with the yellowfins. Newer types of nets can trap the tuna while allowing the dolphins to escape. Public concern over the fate of the dolphins has prompted many tuna packagers to market this kind of "dolphin-safe" tuna.

~A Swim through the Sea © 1994