There are few places in the world where you would find people who have not tasted and enjoyed tuna fish. There are many varieties of this fish, and it is estimated that more than two million tons are caught each year for fish markets or by sportsmen.
The largest is the bluefin tuna that sometimes matches the size of a shark or a porpoise. It may weigh as much as one thousand pounds and grow to be more than ten feet long. But most that are caught are around three feet long, which is big enough to give a sport fisherman a real battle.
Although found in every ocean, many live in the Atlantic Ocean, with Nova Scotia and Norway being two of the places where great numbers feed. The larger bluefins are often caught in these places and are prized as a food fish. The meat is sold fresh, canned or frozen. Most are packed in ice and shipped to cities throughout Canada, the United States and Europe, as well as Japan for their sushi and sashimi raw fish markets.
The bluefin, as with all tuna, has a very distinctive shape. From its large mouth to the very narrow connection at its crescent-shaped vertical tail, it is as streamlined as a dolphin. The tuna is among the swiftest of fishes, and the hardy bluefin has been known to swim as far as a hundred miles a day. It is a pretty fish, deep-blue along its well-muscled body. The Creator has provided an extra-strong heart, so that many live to be thirty to thirty-five years old.
The Atlantic tuna migrate each year from the warm waters of the Gulf of Mexico and the Mediterranean Sea in schools estimated to contain as many as ten thousand. These migrations, as far north as the Arctic Circle and back, set a long-distance record in the fish world.
Females lay tremendous quantities of eggs that float near the surface. These hatch and grow rapidly, but many become the victims of hungry sea creatures. Those that survive weigh about nine pounds in a year’s time and become mature in three or four years. However, they continue growing no matter how old they become.
Tuna, as well as all other creatures, are always under God’s care and live their lives through instincts He has given them. In the Bible we also find that “His eyes are upon the ways of man, and He [sees] all his goings” (Job 34:2121For his eyes are upon the ways of man, and he seeth all his goings. (Job 34:21)). We should thank Him for this, but even more for the message, “In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him” (1 John 4:99Then saith the woman of Samaria unto him, How is it that thou, being a Jew, askest drink of me, which am a woman of Samaria? for the Jews have no dealings with the Samaritans. (John 4:9)). Have you thanked Him for that love and accepted the Lord Jesus Christ as your very own Saviour?
ML-07/15/2012