albacore
Thunnus alalunga (Bonnaterre, 1788)
Accepted species in Catalogue of Life’s 11 September 2026 base release. This preserves the source classification and available supporting data; it is not a completed species monograph.
White tuna, bastard tuna (local names from Réunion): species of fish found in the tropical waters of the Indian Ocean. It can measure up to 140cm and reach depths of 600m. This fish was photographed during field sampling (SIH, Fisheries Information System) or laboratory dissections (research projects). The photo in PNG format (without background) is available from the associated dataset.
Hugues Evano (IFREMER, Délégation océan Indien (DOI), Département Ressources Biologiques et Environnement (RBE), F-97420 Le Port, France) · CC BY 4.0 · Image sourceProvider-generated thumbnail requested at 320 pixels; no local editing Local WebP display rendition; resized without cropping.
Open encyclopedia reference
The albacore (Thunnus alalunga), known also as the albicore or longfin tuna, is a species of tuna of the order Scombriformes. It lives in temperate and tropical waters across the globe in the epipelagic and mesopelagic zones. There are six distinct stocks known globally in the Atlantic, Pacific, and Indian oceans, as well as in the Mediterranean Sea. The albacore has an elongate, fusiform body with a conical snout, large eyes, and remarkably long pectoral fins. Its body is a deep blue dorsally and shades of silvery white ventrally. Individuals can reach up to 1.4 m (4 ft 7 in) in length. Albacore are pelagic predators, eating a wide variety of foods, including fish, crustaceans, and cephalopods. They are unique among tuna in that their primary food-source is cephalopods, with fish making up a much smaller portion of their diet. Reproduction usually occurs from November to February and is oviparous. An adult female can release over two million eggs in a single cycle.
Wikipedia contributors, Albacore; see linked history · CC BY-SA 4.0 . Plain-text lead excerpt, at most 180 words; no infobox or later sections Retrieved 2026-10-05T02:30:22.507899+00:00. This reference remains separate from the taxonomic record.
Identity & source status
- Scientific name
- Thunnus alalunga (Bonnaterre, 1788)
- Name authority
- (Bonnaterre, 1788)
- Common name
- albacore
- Rank
- species
- Accepted status
- accepted
- Kingdom
- Animalia
- Phylum
- Chordata
- Class
- Teleostei
- Order
- Scombriformes
- Family
- Scombridae
- Genus
- Thunnus
- Extinction status
- Not supplied by this source
Source habitat flags: Marine: yes · Freshwater: no · Terrestrial: no. These do not form a complete habitat description.
Classification family tree
Nested taxonomic groups from the source. This is not a direct-ancestor chain, a dated evolutionary tree or a phylogenetic reconstruction.
- domainEukaryota (Chatton, 1925) Whittaker & Margulis, 1978
- kingdomAnimalia
- phylumChordata
- subphylumVertebrata
- infraphylumGnathostomata
- parvphylumOsteichthyes
- gigaclassActinopterygii
- superclassActinopteri
- classTeleostei
- orderScombriformes
- familyScombridae Rafinesque, 1815
- subfamilyScombrinae Rafinesque, 1815
- genusThunnus South, 1845
- speciesThunnus alalunga (Bonnaterre, 1788)
Close classified relatives
These entries share the source’s genus, Thunnus. They are not necessarily the closest relatives established by molecular evidence.
| Species | Classification | Source status |
|---|---|---|
| blackfin tunaThunnus atlanticus (Lesson, 1831) | ScombridaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Northern bluefin tunaThunnus orientalis (Temminck & Schlegel, 1844) | ScombridaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Atlantic bluefin tunaThunnus thynnus (Linnaeus, 1758) | ScombridaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Oriental bonitoThunnus tonggol (Bleeker, 1851) | ScombridaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Allison tunaThunnus albacares (Bonnaterre, 1788) | ScombridaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| southern bluefin tunaThunnus maccoyii (Castelnau, 1872) | ScombridaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| big-eye tunaThunnus obesus (Lowe, 1839) | ScombridaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
Names & synonyms
Names explicitly linked to this accepted taxon in the source. Synonymy can change with revision.
Source literature & publication evidence
References attached to this source record, including nomenclatural citations where supplied. This is a selected bibliography; abbreviated citations remain in the source’s form.
- https://www.marinespecies.org/aphia.php?p=taxdetails&id=127026 Source fields: Taxon.tsv dwc:namePublishedIn, Taxon.tsv dcterms:references
Origins, evidence & remaining research
Name authority and publication references document nomenclature where the source supplies it. They do not establish evolutionary origins or the earliest fossil occurrence.
Specimen-level evidence, morphology, ecological research, phylogenetic studies, a comprehensive bibliography and a located literary passage have not yet been compiled for this record.
Dataset citation & attribution
This exact taxon in ChecklistBank · Catalogue of Life 2026-09-11
Catalogue of Life 2026-09-11; dataset 316321; doi:10.48580/dgz5n. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ . Retrieved 5 October 2026.
Stable key: col:56P6R. Classification follows source parent identifiers. English common names may vary by region.