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In the Nursery

December 3, 2018

Bluefin tuna are the largest of all tuna species—adults can reach ten feet in length and weigh more than a thousand pounds. But they start out small, as 2- to 3-millimeter-long larvae. This one was caught by MIT-WHOI Joint Program graduate student Chrissy Hernandez in the Slope Sea, a region of the Atlantic Ocean between the between the U.S. continental shelf and the Gulf Stream farther offshore. The area is a newly-recognized spawning ground for western Atlantic bluefin tuna—more good news for a species whose population in the Gulf of Mexico is sustainably managed with a limited harvest. (Photo by Chrissy Hernandez, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution)