Albacore

The albacore has a streamlined, fusiform body with a conical snout, large mouth, and big eyes. Its body is dark blue dorsally, shades of silvery white ventrally, and covered by small scales. The pectoral fins begin slightly before the first dorsal fin and extend well beyond the front of the anal fin, usually as far as the second dorsal finlet, often as long as 30% of the fish's total length. Like the fish's body, the fins are dark blue on top, but change to a medium yellow color on the underside. They are markedly shorter in fish under 0.5 m (1 ft 8 in) in length, often resulting in confusion with T. obesus juveniles, which also have long pectoral fins, though these are rounded at the tips where the albacore's taper to a point. The first dorsal fin is a deep yellow and the second, which is smaller than the first, is a light yellow, as is the anal fin. It has 7–9 dorsal finlets and 7–8 anal finlets, dark blue and silvery white in color respectively, matching the part of the fish's body they are on. The caudal fin is also silvery white. At 1.4 m (4 ft 7 in) maximum length, the albacore is the smallest of the bluefin tuna. It reaches sexual maturity at 0.9 m (2 ft 11 in) and its common length is only slightly larger at 1.0 m (3 ft 3 in). Males and females exhibit no sexual dimorphism.

The albacore has a cosmopolitan distribution in tropical and temperate waters across the globe and in every ocean as well as the Mediterranean Sea. Its latitudinal range extends from 59°N to 46°S. Its temperature range is 10–25 °C (50–77 °F). Its depth range is 0–600 m (0–1,969 ft; 0–328 fathoms) in the epipelagic and mesopelagic zones. It is most often found in surface waters 15.6–19.4 °C (60.1–66.9 °F) in temperature, though larger individuals can be found in deeper waters 13.5–25.2 °C (56.3–77.4 °F). It can survive at temperatures as low as 9.5 °C (49.1 °F) for short periods of time. It favors areas where warm and cool water mix.

The albacore is a powerful, hard-hitting predator that forms mixed schools with skipjack tuna, yellowfin tuna, and bluefin tuna, sometimes around floating objects like sargassum weeds. Schools of albacore are highly migratory within bodies of water and segregated by maturity, with older fish tending to form more compact groups. Of those caught by humans, immature albacore have a 1:1 sex ratio while older albacore are mostly male. In the Atlantic Ocean, older fish are found in cooler waters. The opposite is true for the Pacific Ocean, where fish are found more abundantly along thermal discontinuities. Depth range also varies by location: Atlantic fish dive as deep as 600 m (2,000 ft) where Pacific fish reach only 380 m (1,250 ft) in depth. In the northeast Atlantic, feeding migrations to productive areas occur during the summer. Due to climate changes over the last 40 years, the timing and spatial distribution of the albacore have also changed. Albacore show a broad range of behavioral differences by region. In Baja California, albacore make frequent dives to depths exceeding 200 m (660 ft) during the day and stay near the surface at night, while off the coast of Washington and Oregon they stay near the surface the entire day. Albacore never really rest; their need for oxygen means they must always be on the move.

Feeding. Albacore tuna are pelagic (open-sea) predators. …

As with other tunas, albacore meat is a versatile ingredient that is used a wide variety of dishes.