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Pacific Bluefin Tuna Research Paper

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“A single Pacific bluefin tuna sells at auction for more than $100,000” (Arnold, 2012). The Pacific bluefin tuna is one of the most popular fish consumed in the world eaten mainly in sushi. In 2010 alone, the United States consumed twenty-four percent of the tuna consumed by the entire population. Due to its increasing growth in popularity the demand for wild bluefin tuna has caused the species to drastically decline to about 2 percent of its original percent population causing it to become endangered. Due to the drop in the amount of wild bluefin tuna left there have been serious changes to the ocean’s ecosystem. The Pacific blue fin tuna is one of the top predators in the pacific oceans food chain making it a tertiary consumer. For them to survive it must feed on the Ocean’s secondary consumers which are the anchovies, herring, etc. …show more content…

Those secondary consumers will eventually take over the ocean but will die off as there is not enough primary consumers such as crabs, shrimp, etc. for them all to eat however. After everyone has died only the producers will be the only organisms like in the ocean and since there are now no tertiary, secondary, or primary consumers to regulate them they will explode in numbers. A disruption to the ocean’s pelagic system can be avoided if the bluefin tuna is available to regulate the secondary consumers who regulate the primary consumers who regulate the producers, every organism will play an important role in making sure there is balance so if the bluefin tuna is gone the others will also be affected. The ocean’s marine pelagic system can be salvaged by considering sustainable sushi and taking advantage of sustainable

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