Atlantic Bluefin Tuna - Taxonomy

Taxonomy

The Atlantic bluefin tuna is most closely related to the Pacific bluefin tuna (Thunnus orientalis) and the southern bluefin tuna (Thunnus maccoyii), and more distantly to the other large tunas of the genus Thunnus – the bigeye tuna (Thunnus obesus) and the yellowfin tuna (Thunnus albacares). For many years the Pacific and Atlantic bluefin tuna species were considered to be the same, or subspecies, and referred to as the "northern bluefin tuna". This name occasionally gives rise to some confusion as the longtail tuna (Thunnus tonggol) can in Australia sometimes be known under the name "northern bluefin tuna". This is also true in New Zealand and Fiji.

Bluefin tuna were often referred to as the common tunny, especially in the UK, Australia and New Zealand. The name tuna, a derivative of the Spanish atún, was widely adopted in California in the early 1900s and has since become accepted for all tunas, including the bluefin, throughout the English-speaking world. In some languages the red color of the bluefin's meat is included in its name, as in atún rojo (Spanish) and tonno rosso (Italian), amongst others.