New discovery in Yellowfin tuna behaviour
A yellowfin tuna (40-50 kg) tagged in October 2004 with an archival tag during a FADIO research cruise has shown that this species can dive deeper than was previously thought. The fish was caught 98 days after being tagged, some 250 nautical miles from the tagging location. The analysis of the data recorded by the tag shows that the tuna spent most of its time in the mixed layer (0-75m), but there were 3 deep dives to 578m, 982m and 1160m. That last dive lasted some 2 hours, and the fish had to deal with a huge drop in both sea temperature (from 29°C to 6°C) and body temperature (from 26°C to 13°C). There are few records of a yellowfin tuna diving that deep, and that last dive is probably close to a world record.
A yellowfin tuna (40-50 kg) tagged in October 2004 with an archival tag during a FADIO research cruise has shown that this species can dive deeper than was previously thought. The fish was caught 98 days after being tagged, some 250 nautical miles from the tagging location. The analysis of the data recorded by the tag shows that the tuna spent most of its time in the mixed layer (0-75m), but there were 3 deep dives to 578m, 982m and 1160m. That last dive lasted some 2 hours, and the fish had to deal with a huge drop in both sea temperature (from 29°C to 6°C) and body temperature (from 26°C to 13°C). There are few records of a yellowfin tuna diving that deep, and that last dive is probably close to a world record.