DNA identification of Pacific bluefin tuna (Thunnus orientalis) in the New Zealand fishery

Abstract

Muscle samples were collected from 69 specimens identified as Pacific bluefin tuna (Thunnus orientalis) (Temminck and Schlegel, 1844) in the New Zealand Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) between 1990 and 2000. Identifications before 1996 were based on body size and colour of the caudal keel; later identifications were mostly based on the shape of abdominal cavity. The tissue samples were tested with a diagnostic mitochondrial DNA marker that distinguishes southern bluefin Thunnus maccoyii (Castelnau, 1872) and Pacific bluefin tuna T. orientalis; 59 specimens were confirmed as T. orientalis and 10 as T. maccoyii. Specimens recorded as Pacific bluefin tuna by the shape of the abdominal cavity were correctly identified as T. orientalis, and this character can be used to identify large specimens landed on tuna vessels. Some specimens recorded as Pacific bluefin tuna on the basis of colour and size were T. maccoyii; and early records of T. orientalis in New Zealand waters, based on these characters, are unreliable. Unusual colour patterns were reported in some specimens of T. orientalis but not T. maccoyii. The Pacific bluefin tuna T. orientalis accounted for less than 0.3% of the bluefin tuna catch in the New Zealand EEZ during the 1990s.