By Leigh Mcmanus For Mailonline
Published: 16:24 GMT, 5 January 2019 | Updated: 20:06 GMT, 5 January 2019
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A 612-pound bluefin tuna sold for a record 333.6 million yen (£2.4m) at the first auction of 2019.
It was the first auction since Tokyo's famed Tsukiji market was moved to a new site on the city's waterfront.
The winning bid for the prized but threatened species at the predawn auction Saturday was more than double the 2013 annual New Year auction.
President of sushi restaurant chain Sushi-Zanmai, Kiyoshi Kimura (R), displays a 278kg bluefin tuna at his main restaurant in Tokyo
It was paid by Kiyomura Corp., whose owner, Kiyoshi Kimura, runs the Sushi Zanmai chain. Kimura has often won the annual auction in the past.
Japanese broadcaster NHK showed a beaming Kimura saying that he was surprised by the high price of tuna this year. But he added, 'The quality of the tuna I bought is the best.'
The auction prices are way above usual for bluefin tuna. The fish normally sells for up to
