SORRY AUSSIES, THERE'S NO SUCH THING AS A NORTHERN BLUEFIN TUNA

I caught my first northern bluefin tuna 20-some years ago, off northernmost Australia's Cape York peninsula.

- Doug Olander

Only it turns out, I didn't actually catch a northern bluefin because there is no such thing.

A TOP TUNA IN AUSTRALIA

As I learned later, my "northern bluefin," as the species is widely known Down Under, was in fact a longtail tuna (Thunnus tonggol). I excuse myself for being taken in by that common misnomer (northern bluefin) because I had no idea of the existence of longtail tuna, which occur only in the tropical/subtropical central Pacific and around much of Southeast Asia.