The fish has been known to dive as deep as 1, meters to live and hunt. Here are some of the most common examples of what Bluefin Tuna eat. While still growing and waiting to reach full maturation to advance to some larger prey, juvenile Bluefin Tuna typically have a smaller diet. In the early stages of their life, they will eat zooplankton, and once they grow a bit, their diet consists of small fish, squid, and crustaceans. Adults also feature these types of marine wildlife in their diet, but their options also increase to bigger fish as they grow.
An adult Bluefin Tuna diet can feature a wide range of other fish, not limited to herring, bluefish, mackerel, and more. Bluefin tuna prefer to eat fish found in the open ocean and invertebrates they can swallow whole. But the diet of an adult Bluefin Tuna is not limited to just fish. They also eat a variety of crustaceans , including crabs, lobsters, crayfish, shrimp, krill, and barnacles.
They have also been known to eat octopuses, squid, cuttlefish, and even kelp. Like sharks, some Bluefin Tuna must constantly swim to create water flow through their gills for oxygen.
The species also has long migration patterns each year, with adults traveling to either the Gulf of Mexico or the Mediterranean Sea in order to reproduce. So the exact diet of Bluefin Tuna depends on where they are in the ocean. From eating plankton, crustaceans, and small fish as juveniles, adult Bluefin Tuna can eat a variety of larger fish as they get older. Yellowfin Tuna tend to find their prey in deeper ocean waters, although they have been known to feed near the surface as well.
As such, the majority of its food consists of octopus, dolphin, squid, lobster, and other tuna. Yellowfin also eat anchovies, pilchards, and pelagic crabs. The diet of Albacore Tuna varies depending on their location. They can be found near the surfaces of shallower waters abundant with smaller prey, but they do not feed on parasites or microscopic organisms. Little is known about the diet of Albacore Tuna because they are difficult to keep in captivity.
However, fishermen have found success catching Albacore with small baitfish. Similarly, Atlantic bluefin tuna are eaten by a wide variety of predators. When they are newly hatched, they are eaten by other fishes that specialize on eating plankton. At that life stage, their numbers are reduced dramatically. Those that survive face a steady increase in the size of their predators.
Adult Atlantic Bluefin are not eaten by anything other than the very largest billfishes, toothed whales, and some open ocean shark species. Bluefin Tuna are known to be highly migratory, with individuals making long migrations every year. These migrations correspond with their spawning behavior and with their food needs. This species reproduces via broadcast spawning, where several females and several males release millions of eggs and sperm into the water column at the same time.
This method increases the likelihood that the eggs will be fertilized and decreases the chances that they will be eaten by egg predators. There are at least two known populations of Atlantic bluefin tuna, one that reproduces in the Gulf of Mexico and one that reproduces in the Mediterranean Sea. Some researchers believe that the Mediterranean population actually represents two populations one in the west and one in the east plus the Black Sea.
This further division has some implications for fisheries management, because the fish in the eastern Mediterranean are generally considered more of a conservation concern than those in the western Mediterranean.
Though almost all fishes are cold blooded, Atlantic Bluefin have a specialized blood vessel structure — called a countercurrent exchanger — that allows them to maintain a body temperature that is higher than the surrounding water.
This adaptation provides them with a major advantage when hunting in cold water, by allowing them to move more quickly and intelligently.
The Atlantic bluefin tuna is one of the fastest swimmers in the ocean.
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