A deep-pocketed restaurateur shelled out nearly $750,000 for a tuna at Japan’s Tsukiji fish market on Thursday, smashing the record price for a single bluefin.

The 269-kilogramme fish stood at an eye-popping 56.49 million yen ($736,500) when the hammer came down in the first auction of the year.

The figure dwarfs the previous high of 32.49 million yen paid at last year’s inaugural auction at Tsukiji, a huge working market in Tokyo.

A monster bluefin tuna sold for a record 396,000 dollars in the year’s first auction at the world’s biggest fish market in Tokyo Wednesday amid intense pre-dawn bidding.

The 342-kilogramme (752-pound) fish — caught off Japan‘s northern island of Hokkaido — fetched a winning bid of 32.49 million yen (396,000 dollars).

It was the highest such bid yet, topping the previous record of 20.02 million yen paid for a bluefin tuna in 2001, the officials said.

An ambitious chef from the Philippines has created the world’s most expensive sushi, wrapped in gold leaves and small African diamonds.

The five pieces of sushi, worth 91,800 pesos ($2,000), was created by chef Araneta Jr. , who said his unusual food artworks are used as gifts in marriage proposals or during courtship.

A giant bluefin tuna fetched 16.3 million yen ($177,000) in an auction Tuesday at the world’s largest wholesale fish market in Japan.

The bluefin tuna weighs 232 kg – nearly four times as much as the average Japanese man.

It was caught off the northern tip of Japan’s main island of Honshu, in waters famed for high quality fish.

On her website vikkismyth.com, Santa Monica, California-based designer Vikki Smyth promises to deliver both “table-top and luminary” designs. Her signature piece, the gorgeous Sushi-Ushi serving platform, is a grand example of both.

This award-winning, eye-catching food-presentationware platter suggests both intrigue and savoir-faire.

Sleek and elegant, this one-inch-thick, clear rectangular platter rests upon an enticing arrangement of brilliantly colored acrylic blocks.

What does the world’s most expensive sushi taste like? Smooth, succulent and a little on the light side according to Yumiko Ono.

The Tokyo restaurant world was shocked last week when a 128 kilogram Japanese bluefin tuna fetched 9.63 million yen ($104,800) – the highest price paid for a bluefin tuna in eight years.

Two restaurants with distinctly different styles bid jointly at Tokyo’s first fish auction of the year, splitting both the cost and the fish.