Bluefin tuna weighing 405 kg, which was the main lot of the fish auction in the famous Tokyo seafood market Tsukiji, was sold at the first this year's auction for 36.45 million yen (323 thousand US dollars). This was announced on Friday by the organizers of the auction, transfers UNN.

The fish went under the hammer for a high price for a day was caught in the waters of the Pacific Ocean near the port of Oma (Aomori prefecture).

This year the maximum value of the lot was far from the record - an absolute record was set in 2013, when 222 kg bluefin tuna was sold for 155.4 million yen (1.75 million US dollars at the rate at that time).

The fight for the big bluefin tuna in the first year of fish trading in Tsukiji is an annual amusement for the elite of the Tokyo restaurateurs. Bidding 2018 should be the last in the old place - it is expected that during this year the Tsukiji market will still be moved to the Toyosu area. This should have happened two years ago, however, the transfer of the market had to be postponed due to a number of problems, including the detection in the soil under a new site of high levels of toxic substances.

Through the overfishing, the bluefin tuna received the "Vulnerable". According to the estimates of zooprotectants, the population decreased to 4% of the level that existed before the commencement of commercial fishing in the middle of the 20th century.