[7] Monterey Bay Aquarium's Seafood Watch program lists Pacific bluefin tuna as a "Good alternative".

[3][6] It is mainly a pelagic species found in temperate oceans, but it also ranges into the tropics and more coastal regions.

[3] It has been recorded more locally as a visitor to the Southern Hemisphere, including off Australia, New Zealand, the Gulf of Papua and French Polynesia.

The tuna's ability to maintain body temperature has several definite advantages over other sea life.

The additional heat supplied to the muscles is also advantageous because of the resulting extra power and speed.

[15] Spawning occurs from April to August, but the exact timing depends on the region: Early in the northwest Philippine Sea (the southern part of its breeding range) and late in the Sea of Japan (the northern part of its breeding range).

[3] Pacific bluefins eat various small schooling squids and fishes, but have also been recorded taking sessile animals,[6] pelagic red crabs and krill.

[7] The IUCN classifies the population as "Near Threatened", although that designation has not been updated since the stock was found to have been rebuilt.

[26] Monterey Bay Aquarium's Seafood Watch program lists Pacific bluefin tuna as a "Good alternative".

[10] Pacific bluefin flesh may contain levels of mercury or PCBs that are harmful to humans who consume it.

In Japan, some foods made available for the first time of the year are considered good luck, especially bluefin tuna.

Winning these new year auctions is often used as a way to get publicity, which raises the prices considerably higher than their usual market value: on 5 January 2013, a 489-pound (222 kg) Pacific bluefin tuna caught off northeastern Japan was sold in the first auction of the year at the Tsukiji fish market in Tokyo for a record 155.4 million yen (US$1.76 million) – leading to record unit prices of US$3,603 per pound, or ¥703,167 per kilogram.