World's most expensive fish lunch? The bluefin tuna that became a pricey meal

Weighing 212 kg, this bluefin tuna fetched $273,000 at an auction in Tokyo's Toyosu fish market in the first week of January 2023. (Photo: Bloomberg)

How much would you pay for an animal or a bird? If you are a dog or a cat or a parakeet lover, no price presumably would be too high to pay for your pet. One legendary king was even ready to give up his entire kingdom for a horse.

Admittedly, his circumstances were a little different from the buyer who coughed up a whopping $273,000 for a giant tuna at an auction in Tokyo's Toyosu fish market recently. The bluefin tuna weighed 212 kg according to a Bloomberg report, which means the discerning buyer put down $1,287 for each kilo of the fish.

Ironically the bluefin tuna is famous for its speed, its ability to dive deep into the oceans and for its ability to live up to 40 years. This one obviously didn’t. By the afternoon of the day it was auctioned on January 5, it had been consumed by eager patrons at a Sushi restaurant.

That must have been one expensive lunch. But then tuna is expensive. As are other fish. Ask any Bengali and he will narrate his tale of woe as rising prices of ilish threaten to wreck household budgets.

Fishermen, though, aren’t complaining. Indiatimes wrote about a “humungous" Telia Bhola fish weighing around 55 kilos caught near Digha in West Bengal's East Midnapore which was auctioned off at Digha Mohana Fish Auction Center for Rs 13 lakh, translating into a hefty Rs 26,000 per kg. Disappointingly, a foreign company was the likely buyer of the Telia Bhola fish which contains maws that are used to make several medicines.

India’s sea gold, though, is the ghol fish, each of which can fetch nearly Rs 75,000. Auctions at India's biggest fish market in Kasimedu have also been known to fetch minor fortunes.

But it isn’t just fish that is in demand. There are other creatures that are equally fancied. The humble lamb, for instance, has a price tag that might surprise many. BBC reported that a unique lamb called Double Diamond, “a particularly impressive example of a Texel lamb, a breed that originates from a small island off the coast of the Netherlands”, was sold for £367,500 ($490,500) to a consortium of farmers in 2021. But as usual, it is the bulls that are in the ascendant even here. The same report mentioned an Angus bull called SAV America 8018 which was sold for $1.51 million because of the high value of its semen.

In India, horses have been known to fetch fancy prices. Two years ago, stud farm owner Champaklal Zaveri set a new record at the Mahalakshmi race course when at the Royal Western India Turf Club (RWITC) auction he put down Rs 41 lakh to buy a two-year-old colt from Poonawalla Exhilaration Stud Co.

But buying an expensive racehorse comes with the promise of big winnings on the racecourse. The Indian Derby in February carries a purse of over Rs 3 crore. The world’s richest race, the Saudi Cup, raced on dirt at the King Abdulaziz Racetrack in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, has a $20 million purse of which $10 million goes to the winner. So, at least there is the possibility of a win, if you buy a racehorse like this. For the bidders of the bluefin tuna, there’s only the satisfaction of feeding a set of gourmands. And clearly there are many of that tribe too.

At San Lucas in Mexico, a Grand Velas Los Cabos Taco meal comes with a price tag of $25,000! Sure, the ingredients - corn tortilla flaked in edible gold and an inside that features Kobe beef, langoustine, beluga caviar, brie cheese, and black truffle topped with salsa made from dried Morita chilis, luxury anejo tequila - sound enticing. Though I am not so sure of the world’s most expensive coffee, civet, that follows. As famously explained by Morgan Freeman in The Bucket List, Civet coffee is made from harvesting semi-digested beans from the droppings of an Asian wild cat called a civet.

As they say, there's no accounting for taste.