Torpedo shaped and beautifully colored, yellowfin tuna are members of the very large mackerel family. Tuna are one of the world’s most important food fish. Found in warm ocean waters, they restlessly roam the deeper offshore waters of Florida’s Gulf and Atlantic Coasts. They travel in schools and are rapid swimmers feeding primarily on fish, squid, crab larvae and shrimp.  Yellowfin tuna can weigh up to 300 pounds but average weights in commercial catches are between 20 and 100 pounds. In Florida, yellowfin are commercially harvested exclusively with hook-and-line which makes the fishery “dolphin-safe”. Yellowfin tuna are versatile food fish and the meat is consumed raw, cooked, smoked and canned. The lean meat is widely used in sashimi, raw fish dishes popular in Japan and a connoisseur’s delicacy in the United States as well. Yellowfin tuna steak has a firm, dense beef-like texture which makes it excellent for grilling and is traditionally cooked rare to medium-rare in the center as for beef steak.  Characteristics: The extra lean meat is firm and dense  with a large flake and a sweet, mild flavor. Meat color ranges from pink to deep red but becomes ivory white to tan when cooked.  Substitutes: Swordfish, mahi-mahi and king mackerel.

Yellowfin are metallic dark blue on the back and upper sides, changing from yellow to silver on the belly. The dorsal and anal fins, and finlets are bright yellow. Tuna species are difficult to distinguish. Bigeye, blackfin, albacore and yellowfin are similar in shape and are often caught together. Characteristics that distinguish the yellowfin from other species are its elongated anal and dorsal fins on large fish, a moderately smooth non-striated ventral surface of the liver and 26 to 34 gill rakers on the first arch.  Yellowfin tuna inhabit warm waters of the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans and all warm seas except the Mediterranean. In the western Atlantic, the species is found from Massachusetts to Brazil, including the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean. Spawning takes place at sea in the spring and summer, and most fish are capable of reproduction at the age of 2 or 3 years. Yellowfin feed in open ocean waters on fishes and invertebrates associated with Sargassm.