Northern bluefin tuna
Thunnus orientalis (Temminck & Schlegel, 1844)
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 Pacific bluefin tuna (Thunnus orientalis) is a predatory species of tuna found widely in the northern Pacific Ocean, but it is migratory and also recorded as a visitor to the south Pacific.
In the past it was often included in T. thynnus, the 'combined' species then known as the northern bluefin tuna (when treated as separate, T. thynnus is called the Atlantic bluefin tuna). It may reach as much as 3 m (9.8 ft) in length and 450 kg (990 lb) in weight.
Like the closely related Atlantic bluefin and the more distantly related southern bluefin, the Pacific bluefin is a commercially valuable species and several thousand tonnes are caught each year. It was considered overfished and subject to overfishing for decades, but catches were reduced in 2011 in order to rebuild the stock and a 2024 stock assessment determined that the species had rebuilt and was no longer overfished nor subject to overfishing. It is now considered a management success. Monterey Bay Aquarium's Seafood Watch program lists Pacific bluefin tuna as a "Good Alternative".
Wikipedia contributors, Pacific bluefin tuna; see linked history · CC BY-SA 4.0 . Plain-text lead excerpt, at most 180 words; no infobox or later sections Retrieved 2026-10-05T09:37:16.049310+00:00. This reference remains separate from the taxonomic record.
Identity & source status
- Scientific name
- Thunnus orientalis (Temminck & Schlegel, 1844)
- Name authority
- (Temminck & Schlegel, 1844)
- Common name
- Northern 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 orientalis (Temminck & Schlegel, 1844)
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 |
| 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 |
| 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.
| Recorded name | Source status |
|---|---|
| Thunnus schlegelii (Steindachner, 1884) (Steindachner, 1884) | synonym |
| Thunnus thynnus orientalis (Temminck & Schlegel, 1844) (Temminck & Schlegel, 1844) | synonym |
| Thunnus saliens Jordan & Evermann, 1926 Jordan & Evermann, 1926 | synonym |
| Thynnus orientalis Temminck & Schlegel, 1844 Temminck & Schlegel, 1844 | synonym |
| Orcynus schlegelii Steindachner, 1884 Steindachner, 1884 | 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=273823 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:56P7D. Classification follows source parent identifiers. English common names may vary by region.