southern bluefin tuna
Thunnus maccoyii (Castelnau, 1872)
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.
Open encyclopedia reference
The southern bluefin tuna (Thunnus maccoyii) is a tuna of the family Scombridae found in open southern Hemisphere waters of all the world's oceans mainly between 30°S and 50°S, to nearly 60°S. At up to 2.5 metres (8 ft 2 in) and weighing up to 260 kilograms (570 lb), it is among the larger bony fishes.
Southern bluefin tuna, like other pelagic tuna species, are part of a group of bony fishes that can maintain their body core temperature up to 10 °C (18 °F) above the ambient temperature. This advantage enables them to maintain high metabolic output for predation and migrating large distances. The southern bluefin tuna is an opportunistic feeder, preying on a wide variety of fish, crustaceans, cephalopods, salps, and other marine fishes and crustaceans.
Wikipedia contributors, Southern bluefin tuna; see linked history · CC BY-SA 4.0 . Plain-text lead excerpt, at most 180 words; no infobox or later sections Retrieved 2026-10-05T09:38:12.705503+00:00. This reference remains separate from the taxonomic record.
Identity & source status
- Scientific name
- Thunnus maccoyii (Castelnau, 1872)
- Name authority
- (Castelnau, 1872)
- Common name
- southern bluefin tuna
- 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 maccoyii (Castelnau, 1872)
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 |
| albacoreThunnus alalunga (Bonnaterre, 1788) | ScombridaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Allison tunaThunnus albacares (Bonnaterre, 1788) | 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.
| Recorded name | Source status |
|---|---|
| Thunnus maccoyi (Castelnau, 1872) (Castelnau, 1872) | synonym |
| Thunnus phillipsi Jordan & Evermann, 1926 Jordan & Evermann, 1926 | synonym |
| Thynnus maccoyii Castelnau, 1872 Castelnau, 1872 | synonym |
| Thunnus thynnus maccoyii (Castelnau, 1872) (Castelnau, 1872) | synonym |
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=219720 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. A suitable sourced image remains to be added.
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:56P77. Classification follows source parent identifiers. English common names may vary by region.