Albacore Tuna Art Print

Thunnus alalunga

This watercolor was painted life-size from an Albacore caught by tuna researchers on Monterey Bay, California,  in 2000. At the time I was Artist in Residence at the Tuna Research and Conservation Center,  of Stanford’s Hopkins Marine Station and the Monterey Bay Aquarium. During my residency I produced a variety of scientifically accurate illustrations of tunas and other pelagic (ocean-going) predators.

Albacore tuna are bullet-like streaks of metallic life that travel in large schools to Monterey Bay in the late Summer and Fall. They are closely related to the much larger Bluefin Tuna, having warm body cores heated by muscular action, hearts that perform like race cars even in cold water, and streamlined details on every fin and surface that touches the water. They are favorites of sportfishers and of shoppers who like cans of “white meat tuna.”