Giant bluefin tuna nets $37,500 at first Tokyo fish auction of year

A giant bluefin tuna sold for more than $37,000 in the first auction of the year at a Tokyo fish market on Monday, as Japan faces growing pressure to cut back on consumption of the threatened fish.

The 180.4-kilogram tuna, caught off Japan's northern region of Aomori, fetched a winning bid of 4.51 million yen ($37,500), said an official at the Tsukiji fish market.

The bid marked the second consecutive decline at the annual new year sales, after a record 155.4 million yen was paid in 2013 - driven by a bidding war led by a Hong Kong restaurant chain - for a slightly larger fish of similar quality.