Monster tuna: Japanese man pays $2.6m for 276kg fish

The bluefin tuna is an endangered species. Photo / Getty Images

A Japanese man started 2020 by spending NZ$2.7 million on a giant bluefin tuna at a New Year's auction.

The man paid the whopping amount of a 276kg tuna fish.

Kiyoshi Kimura calls himself "Tuna King" and is the owner of Kiyomura Corp, a Tokyo company that owns sushi chain Sushi Zanmai.

He purchased the monster fish at Tokyo's Toyosu fish markets, during the New Year's auction.

The giant fish was caught off the coast of Aomori in northern Japan.

Surprisingly, this is not Kimura's biggest fish purchase.

Last year, he paid $4.3 million for a 278kg Pacific bluefin tuna.

The bluefin tuna is an endangered species.

The Japanese tycoon told Agence France-Presse he wants his customers "to eat very tasty ones this year".