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Glite Dictionary
Thunnus albacares

Thunnus albacares

8.2
A large fast tuna that eats smaller fish and lives in warm oceans
  • noun
  • /ˈθʌnəs ˌælbəˈkɛrz/
  • Specialized
translation icon : atún amarillo
  • The yellowfin tuna, Thunnus albacares, is highly sought after for its rich flavor in sushi and sashimi.
  • yellowfin tuna
  • Thunnus albacares tuna

Examples

  • Fishermen often target Thunnus albacares during the summer months when they are most abundant in warm waters.

  • During our deep-sea expedition, we encountered a school of Thunnus albacares swimming swiftly through the ocean.

  • Catches reached record lows for yellowfin tuna, Thunnus albacares, and skipjack tuna, Katsuwonus pelamis, and continued a declining trend that started in 1995.

    Academic text (1997)

Synonyms

yellowfin
vsThunnus albacares
4 6.2

A large tuna with yellow fins that lives in warm oceans

is the formal species name used in science rather than the common name
yellowfin tuna
vsThunnus albacares
2 3.8

A large tuna fish with yellow fins that lives in warm oceans

is the scientific name rather than the common name

Surface Forms

Thunnus albacares singular
Thunnus albacares plural

Morphology

Thunnus + albacares

This is a Latin binomial scientific name (a conventional proper noun) rather than a compositional English phrase; its meaning 'yellowfin tuna' is a label established by taxonomy, not derivable from the constituents. The first element is a genus name and the second is an uninterpretable epithet (not a common English word), so a B1 learner who 'knows' those constituents would not be able to infer the species meaning.

Etymology

Thunnus albacares comes from words that name the fish itself: Thunnus is an old word for 'tuna' and albacares likely points to the fish's pale body and bright yellow fins. So the name paints the picture of a tuna with yellow fins, which is why it refers to the yellowfin tuna.