Tuna: out of the can and into our hearts

[DavidBrown]

Ituri's recent thread about whether there are billfish in captivity got me wondering about captive tuna.

Are there any tuna exhibits in aquariums beyond the Monterey Aquarium? I am not aware of any in other US aquariums. Are they too difficult to keep if you don't have a mega 1 million gallon tank?

My main purpose for this thread is to see if anyone else has learned to love tuna as the amazing animal that they are from seeing them in an aquarium. Prior to seeing them at the Monterey Aquarium I mainly knew tuna as a yummy sandwich ingredient and considered the fish as I consider cows and chickens. After seeing the animals live and the interpretive material at the aquarium I realized that tuna are wild animals like giraffes, elephants, and lions rather than domestic animals like cows. I became much more concerned about their welfare.

Has anybody else who has seen tuna at the Monterey Aquarium (or other aquariums) been converted to tuna appreciation?

Are there other species that you have experienced in zoos or aquariums and come away with a new appreciation of?

 

[condor]

Are there any tuna exhibits in aquariums beyond the Monterey Aquarium?

In a few Japanese aquariums, e.g. Tokyo Sea Life Park has a big group of yellowfin and Pacific bluefin (they've also had bigeye and the smaller skipjack) in a large circular tank that also holds scalloped hammerhead, eagles rays, etc, Aquamarine Fukushima had yellowfin and Pacific bluefin in the same tank where they had sailfish (the tuna died in the earthquake but the aquarium has reopened and it appears they now have yellowfin at least), Osaka Aquarium has a few Pacific bluefin in their huge, multi-species whale shark tank, and Okinawa Churaumi Aquarium has a few yellowfin in their huge, multi-species whale shark tank. The Ocean Park in Hong Kong has Pacific bluefin and the smaller skipjack in their multi-species 'Grand Aquarium'.

They need lots of space but from what I have been told by people associated with aquariums that had tuna they're no more difficult than some other animals often kept in big oceanic tanks. As they discovered at Monterey, large specimens can be a nasty to other aquarium critters like sharks.

In public aquariums Pacific bluefin has spawned a few times at Tokyo Sea Life Park but the life cycle hasn't been completed. There are also several commercial enterprises in Australia, Japan, Taiwan, Hawaii and Europe that keep tuna (yellowfin, bluefins and bigeye, either in oceanic or indoor pens) and some of these have had progress in breeding. Although some of the commercial enterprises now have completed the life cycle (spawning, raising to adults), we are still a long way from removing the pressure from wild populations.

I've not learned to love tunas because of aquariums. I found them amazing long before I saw my first tuna in an aquarium. I do believe aquariums with the appropriate facilities can justify keeping tunas for education but since many tuna species (especially bluefins) are seriously threatened and all currently kept in aquariums were taken from the wild it does raise some questions. As long as wild caught is the source perhaps aquariums should stick to the less threatened yellowfin? Or skipjack in facilities with less space.

 

[Meaghan Edwards]

Aquariums haven't sparked my interest in tuna, but rather, my draw towards animals that are so often overlooked. I'm hoping though that seeing the animal in person may help bring furhter awareness to those who do visit the Monteray Bay Aquarium, for example.