Blackfin Tuna is a migratory fish like other pelagic fish, including other Tuna species. They reside in the deep oceans, far from shore. Like other tuna, blackfin tuna are mostly caught for sport, but many people also keep them to eat later. But are blackfin tuna good to eat?
In short, yes, blackfin tuna is edible, and they are a great source of protein and vitamins. One of the two concerns about eating them is preserving the fish properly after catching them.
If you are not careful, the meat will smell and taste a lot fishier than it should have. The other is heavy metal pollution. But if treated well, blackfin tuna is very tasty and will make a great meal.
There is another minor concern you should know of if you are considering eating blackfin tuna. Even though they are not on the brink of extinction, they are moving higher on the list. Overfishing can and will knock out their number rapidly. But they have still considered “Least concerned” due to maintaining a stable population.
Okay, that’s not bad news, but are Blackfin tuna good for health?
Eating Blackfin Tuna
Blackfin tuna is somewhat popular in restaurants that serve seafood and sushi or sashimi. They are not harvested commercially regularly. The main ways of having a blackfin tuna meal are either if you go out there and catch one yourself or have yourself tuna sashimi.
Having sashimi is nice and all, but the real fun is in going out there and getting yourself a fresh tuna. That way, you can be sure of the quality of the fish, and the fish is fresh as well as free of any kinds of medicine and preservatives.
Additionally, you can cook the Blackfin the way you like to. There are a handful of ways of cooking the Blackfin.
Where To Go To Find The Blackfin Tuna?
Blackfin tuna is a migratory fish and is often on the move. They prefer warmer and cleaner water. Florida is a hot spot for blackfin tuna and it is one of the best states for fishing in the USA.
Florida Gulf Coast, they are found in schools of five to twenty in water with a depth of 50 to 100 feet and a temperature of around 70 degrees Fahrenheit.
They inhabit shallower water than other Tuna species and are mostly found about 60 miles off the shore. But it depends on other factors as well. In extreme cases, you can catch one only a couple of miles off the shore with water as shallow as 30 feet.
That’s the best-case scenario, though. Since blackfin tuna form schools, it is unlikely to happen, but not impossible. Blackfin tuna is available off the coast of the Florida Gulf almost all year round.
Their number fluctuates based on their migratory period, but you are likely to have at least one than not if you are doing everything right. Great, now that we know where to find the blackfin tuna, the question is, Should we eat them?
When To Catch Them?
The best time to catch blackfin tuna is before and after the sunrise and the sunset. While tuna will bite all day long, the prime time is the early morning and the evening.
When the light is dim and the temperature is lower, that is their main feeding time. You might need to search a bit to locate the school of fish, but once you do, as long as you don’t scare them away, you will get a decent catch from the same school.
It is a good idea to cast a second rod at the same spot right after you hook a blackfin and while you are pulling it up.
Because it’s unlikely that the fish you just landed was solitary. Chances are the whole school is there, and you can score multiple catches back-to-back.
Alternatively, you can simply throw down a few chunks of bait or food in general to keep the school interested at the spot so that you can get done with the fish and recast.
Nutritional Value Of Blackfin Tuna
Blackfin tuna is one of the smallest Tuna species. They are strictly carnivorous, and they are great swimmers due to being migratory. All this boils down to the fact that Blackfin tuna meat has the least ratio of fat and fatty acid of all tuna species.
Not all fat is useful for our body. Some make the meat taste worse, while some are straight-up bad of us. Some fat and fatty acid are useful, but our body can easily find supplements.
Besides having a lower ratio of fat, blackfin Tuna is a great source of protein, Vitamin A and B6, Omega-3s, thiamine, as well as useful minerals such as selenium.
Health Concern Regarding Blackfin
Blackfin tuna is saltwater fish. They never enter freshwater or even brackish water. They strictly rely on saltwater fish and crustaceans. So, blackfin tuna also have the same problem that other saltwater fish has.
That is heavy metal pollution. Whether caused by man-made reasons or natural, most saltwater fish are suffering from heavy metal pollution. Like other sea fish, Blackfin tuna muscle does contain a traceable number of heavy metals such as lead, mercury, and cadmium.
But the real question is, are blackfin tuna toxic? Well, the answer is “no.” Blackfin tuna meat is not too intoxicated to eat. One big reason is, they are migratory, and they do travel long distances.
So, naturally, they feed on a wide range of food and food from different places. So, they do not overdose on the same food source that could have been highly polluted.
But still, you should not overdose on Blackfin. A couple of meals a month is the sweet number. You will get to have the taste without risking your health.
Don’t Ruin The Fish
So, you are determined to go catch some blackfin? Remember a few things before you set sail. It’s very easy to ignore or neglect the simplest things that could have a big impact on the outcome.
To begin with, fish do bruise. When you pull up a fish and let it jump and thresh about on the deck, it has a high chance of bruising itself. A bruise is muscle damage, and blood immediately floods the spot to heal it.
But in our case, it’s not going to happen. The fish will die, and blood will clog in the muscle, ruining the taste. Secondly, be sure to bleed the fish right after you catch it. If you don’t bleed the fish, the blood will clog wherever it was.
This is basically the same thing as bruising, but the point is, even if the fish isn’t bruised, the clogged blood will ruin the taste of the fish. This is not exclusive to Blackfin, it happens to every fish we catch, but bleeding Blackfin is especially important.
Because clogged blood in Blackfin ruins the taste more than most other fish, it will turn a tasty and interesting fish into a fishy smelly, kind of dumb-tasting meat blob.
Conclusion
From the pure perspective of whether the Blackfin is edible or not, yes, blackfin tuna is edible. Then, Can you eat it? The answer is yes. You can eat Blackfin. There’s no significant harm involved in it for you or the fish population.
Blackfish tuna is rich in many vitamins and minerals that are essential for good health. Just remember to keep the number of meals under control. Since they do have traceable amounts of mercury and other metals in them, overdosing may and will eventually cause harm.
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