A bulky bluefin tuna made a splash at Tokyo's Toyosu fish market on Monday morning, fetching a record 510.3 million yen ($3.2m; £2.4m) at the market's first auction of the year.
The winning bid for the 243kg fish came from Kiyomura Corp, the operator of popular sushi chain Sushi Zanmai, which has outlets across the country and abroad.
"The year's first tuna brings good luck," said Kiyoshi Kimura, the company's president and a familiar figure at the annual new year's auction, Kyodo reported.
Mr Kimura, who has been dubbed the Tuna King, is known to bid high for bluefin tuna at new year's auctions.
The entrepreneur told reporters after the auction that he was "surprised at the price", AFP reported.
