Tuna ID

[Patudo]

Bahama, what's your take on the last photo I posted? That's quite a slim looking fish, or at least in the photo it appears to be anyway.

Roddy, the vessel was the Our Mary (www.madeiragamefish.com which you can see above the angler's head). Philip Crisp boated that fish which we hooked just in front of the harbour on Ron's old beastmaster stand up outfit. He did real well for a guy who had never fished for tuna and who had a crocked back!

[BahamaLure]

Bahama, what's your take on the last photo I posted? That's quite a slim looking fish, or at least in the photo it appears to be anyway.

I'd call BE on that one too FWIW. I wish I could find those shots I had from the Bahamas of 2 YFT that were as good an example of YFT masquerading as Big Eyes as I ever saw, the argument that came from that catch was epic!

[austin ensor]

the offical name is...big fish.~!!!

[Patudo]

I'd call BE on that one too FWIW. I wish I could find those shots I had from the Bahamas of 2 YFT that were as good an example of YFT masquerading as Big Eyes as I ever saw, the argument that came from that catch was epic!

Please do if you can, mate. I'd love to see them. What size were they - juveniles or full adults say 40kgs plus? I've heard references to short finned yft before but thus far even the ones with relatively short sickles - but even those were still relatively longer than bigeye - still had that yellowfin look about them - colour, shape etc.

As an aside it is interesting how some larger YF have those outrageously long sickles. Is there any reason why some have extra long sickles and others don't?

[Roddy Hays]

Two different species, Dustin.

- thunnus albacora sicklus major allisoni

- thunnus albacora sicklus minimus


I've also tentatively identified the different big-eye species too.

Pacific big-eye - thunnus obesus ultralitus

Western Atlantic big-eye - thunnus obesus tred bartii

Gulf of Mexico big-eye - thunnus medius heavi rockus

Eastern Atlantic big-eye - thunnus thinnus sicklus minimus notcho apparentii


Sorted.

[alex n]

Thats funny Roddy, I like those scientific names, but I do have a serious comment. The yft that we get here in the Hudson canyon in the summer come in two varieties at the same weight , those with sickle fins and those without. Example: I have seen 60 to 80 lb yft with very different anal fins and they were yfts, not bigeye. At that weight you can tell which ones will grow up to be "Allisons" they , according to fisheries biologists, have the same dna and are not considered a different species ,but they must have a different breeding stock or something because they are clearly different.

[gman]

Two different species, Dustin.

- thunnus albacora sicklus major allisoni

- thunnus albacora sicklus minimus


I've also tentatively identified the different big-eye species too.

Pacific big-eye - thunnus obesus ultralitus

Western Atlantic big-eye - thunnus obesus tred bartii

Gulf of Mexico big-eye - thunnus medius heavi rockus

Eastern Atlantic big-eye - thunnus thinnus sicklus minimus notcho apparentii


Sorted.

Roddy your killing me ... funny stuff right there

[Roddy Hays]

Alex,

I couldn't agree with you more. I have seen YF with sickles interspersed with none-sickle on more than one occasion, though I do think that's the exception rather than the rule. Most times the "herds" of thundering YF seem separated.

As I said before, I suspect that fin evolved for a reason, possibly as a mechanism for something that we already have removed by human expansion. The fin would have evolved over many millions of millennia, but we're capable of destroying something in a couple of centuries, so it could have been for something that has already disappeared. I'd put money on it being related to a certain prey item, myself, or as a display signature during spawning.

I'm pretty sure we can knock the tail notch ID factor on the head. A quick trawl through several hundred images on Google shows a whole bunch of what are clearly BE with notched tails. Some without, sure, but an awful lot with. Like any species of animal, I'm wondering whether certain DNA can be passed down through different spawning populations and one set of BE DNA lets them have that notched tail ? Interestingly, most of the pics I spotted were of Atlantic BE, though one at least is from the Pacific.

What was doubly funny were the YF identified as BE, and the BE identified as YF - when clearly each was neither......