NEWS & INSIGHTS
March 13, 2023
The complicated daily movements of Atlantic bluefin tuna.
Tracking adult North Atlantic bluefin tuna (Thunnus thynnus) in the northwestern Atlantic using ultrasonic telemetry
Key to understanding the difficult nature of studying and counting Atlantic bluefin tuna is understanding just how mobile the species is. These are large fish that never stop moving. While much has been made about how Atlantic bluefin move on a large scale, even their daily movements are extensive. No study shows this better than one done by Dr. Molly Lutcavage and her colleagues in the nineties using ultrasonic telemetry. Numerous fish were tagged by harpoon and then tracked—showing their movements over time. This paper is worth a read for anyone that wants to see just how dynamic these fish can be on the lesser-known fine scale. One takeaway from this paper is that there is nothing simple about Atlantic bluefin tuna.