The most interesting facts about tuna: a very fast sustainable fish critical for the economy
Did you know tuna can swim up to 80 kmph? Did you know it ate other fish? Or that it can lay 100 million eggs a year? We’re going to tell you some of the most interesting facts about tuna.
Did you know tuna can swim up to 80 kmph? Did you know it ate other fish? Or that it can lay 100 million eggs a year? We’re going to tell you some of the most interesting facts about tuna.
Its name comes from Latin word ‘thunnus’, which means ‘speed’; in fact, it can swim up to 80 kmph and travel between 14 and 50 km a day. It can reach a length of 3.60 m long and its average lifespan is said to be between 15 and 20 years. Despite only reproducing once a year, they can lay up to 100 million eggs; although few will reach adulthood.
They are very warm blooded, 15ºC above sea temperature, thus enabling them to combat the cold, and this directly affects the taste of their flesh. Tuna feed on: herrings, sole, anchovies, flying fish, squid, shrimp, and even some of the smaller specimens of their own species.
Tuna is a food rich in proteins, Omega 3, and vitamins (B3, B6, B12, A and D), besides containing minerals like: phosphorus, magnesium, iron and iodine. Furthermore, it is one of the fish you can make the most use of, not to mention one of the most widely used marine species in gastronomy, as over 20 different cuts can be obtained from this fish.
More food than that produced in the last 500 years will have to be produced over the next 50 years due to the increase in world population. As a result tuna is one of the most threatened fish species due to excess world demand. According to the FAO, over 33% of the 7 main species of tuna populations are exploited at biologically unsustainable levels.
The environmental impact of fishing some tuna species is virtually null, such as the purse seine tropical tuna considered the least contaminating protein since it only emits between 3 and 5 kg of CO2 per kilo of protein (beef emits an average of approx. 75 kg of CO2 per kilo of protein; pork approx. 30 kilos; chicken approx. 25; and fish farm salmon around 15 kilos).
Fish are essential for economic and social wellbeing, in fact, according to the FAO, over 40 million people worldwide work in the fishing industry, and there are over 3,000 million people whose food safety greatly depends on sea products. Tuna species represent 20% of sea fishing value and over 8% of all commercialised sea products.