$736,000 tuna smashes record price for single bluefin (Video)

$736,000 tuna sold at Japan auction

A $736,000 bluefin tuna was sold at an auction at Tokyo's Tsukiji fish market in Japan Thursday, setting the new world record for the most expensive tuna fish.

The winning bidder, Kiyoshi Kimura, president of Kiyomura Co., which operates the Sushi-Zanmai restaurant chain, shelled out the whooping amount to the 269-kilogram tuna, the largest among the 274 shipped globally. Each kilogram of the massive tuna will reportedly be sold at $2,700.

"I wanted people in Japan, not those abroad, to eat the number-one tuna," company Kimura was quoted saying by Jiji Press.

“It is not just about the money, as there will be positive ripple effects from buying the fish,” said Sushi-Zanmai's spokesperson Hiroshi Umehara. “It is also about the Japanese spirit.”

The tuna caught in Oma on the northern tip of Honshu easily beat the previous record set last year - a 342-kilogram fish which fetched $420,000.

Prized for its tender red meat, the best slices of fatty bluefin tuna can sell for $24 per piece at sushi bars in Tokyo.

Japanese are the major consumers of bluefin tuna in the world.

Here's AFP's video report about the $736,000 tuna: