Tokyo, Japan - A massive bluefin tuna on Sunday sold for some $1.3 million at the first auction of the season at Tokyo's popular fish market, the second highest amount ever achieved, according to the Kyodo news agency.

The eye-watering sale of the 276-kilogram specimen is fuelling hopes among the Japanese that the country will continue to recover from its economic downturn, the agency reported.

The tuna was caught on Saturday off the coast of Oma on the northern tip of the island of Honshu, one of Japan's premier tuna fishing areas.

"It was as fat as a cow," 73-year-old fisherman Masahiro Takeuchi was quoted as saying by Kyodo, describing the moment he saw the giant tuna hanging from his line.

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According to Kyodo, in 2019 a bluefin tuna fetched the equivalent of $2.1 million – the highest price ever recorded since 1999 when records began.

Prices then fell during the coronavirus pandemic, it said.

The relatively high sums that are achieved at the traditional New Year's auction are not primarily due to the quality of the fish.

Instead, the PR spectacle has been designed to kick off the new financial year.

"The year's first tuna brings good luck. We want to make people smile with food," said Shinji Nagao, president of a sushi restaurant operator who purchased the fish together with an intermediary.