Common Tunas                                                                                        SKIPJACK--Half the 3 million tons of tuna caught each year is skipjack. A small tuna that swims in tight schools, is commonly purse seined. Oily and with a strong flavor it’s often found in the stores as light meat tuna.                                                                                                                                                                             YELLOWFIN--Second most in worlds catch. It’s sometimes confused with the yellowtail which is in the jack family and not a tuna. Most commercial caught fish are 60 to 100 pounds but can grow to 400 pounds. Leanest of the ahi tunas that include yellowfin bigeye and bluefin tunas. In the pacific the yellowfin tuna swims with dolphins thus the conflict with purse seines.                                                                                                          BIGEYE--Third in commercial production world wide. Swimming in deeper colder waters the bigeye has a high fat content that makes it very valued in the sushi market.                                                                          ALBACORE--Fourth in world wide production.Albacore are small tuna that do not swim in tight schools and become more solitary as they become older thus commercially most are caught with long lines. Very sought after as a food and sport fish especially on the west coast.                                                                                  BLUEFIN--Only 60,000 pound of bluefin are caught commercially each year, largely because of over fishing. At the famed Tsukji fish market in Japan large 500 pound plus bluefin can bring several hundred dollars a pound. The largest of the tunas bluefin reach weight well over 1,000 pounds. In Australia and now Mexico small school size bluefin are netted and kept in holding pens and grown to market size.