Bleeding Tuna?

[Lav20]

Looking for different thoughts for bleeding out a tuna. I was on a 30 hour trip ex NJ to the Hudson Canyon a few years ago. The boat would get a plactic garbage can half fill it with ICE and Sea water. When the tuna's were caught they would make a cut in the neck and throw the tuna in the ice head first. They would hit the cold water and go nuts thus pumping all the blood out.

This make sense? Anyone here do this?

[jig]

Yes, the Big E does the salt water slurry. But it is done to super cool the fish before going on ice, not really to bleed the fish. They are the only boat currently doing this on the Texas coast as far as I know.

We always stick the tuna behind the pectorial fin to bleed it. It usually cuts the heart and bleeds well. If done immediately, the tuna pretty much goes nuts without the ice.

An interesting thing I saw a deckhand do was cut the heart out of the dead tuna. He set it down and would flick it. Each time the heart would start beating again for a while. Freaky.

[BigMikes809]

The Japanese will make that cut accross the back of the head and take what looks like a brazing rod and shove it up the inside of the spine while the fish hangs upside down. Somehow the fish bleeds out almost completely and quickly then they wash it and freeze it. The idea is not to leave any trace of blood on the outside of the fish and as little on the inside as posible.
The hart will keep pumping for some time I was told.
BigMike

[Argo]

there is a long in dept thread about the handling of tuna done by instigator that discusses a few different techniques. I will look for it and bump it up.

[Kenner21]

Originally Posted by BigMikes809

The Japanese will make that cut accross the back of the head and take what looks like a brazing rod and shove it up the inside of the spine while the fish hangs upside down. Somehow the fish bleeds out almost completely and quickly then they wash it and freeze it. The idea is not to leave any trace of blood on the outside of the fish and as little on the inside as posible.
The hart will keep pumping for some time I was told.
BigMike

"Pithing" a tuna doesn't bleed it, it destroys the nervous system. I believe this is done because tuna can create their own heat and the meats better if cooled super quickly.

[fish-n-agg]

Just wondering if slitting the gills would work also? Never tried it but have had guides do it to other species of fish.

[jig]

Thats what I do on sharks. But on tuna, it is so easy to stick it behind the fin. The tuff gillplate on a tuna may make that more difficult.

[dlove]

Look at capt Eddies last post the first pic is making the cut

[fish-n-agg]

Makes since i have never caught a tuna and was just wondering if it would work to cut the gills.

[Bill S]

I believe it was the latest issue of sportfishing that has a column on care of tuna to assure the best taste. It recommended cutting behind the head and destroying the spinal cord as mentioned in one of the previous posts.