How a Atlantic bluefin tuna sees your lure
Which lure colour a Atlantic bluefin tuna can actually see, at your depth and in your water. 2 cone types, peak 484 nm. Ranked contrast for 54 colours.
Thunnus thynnus
Measured in a close relative
No spectral measurement exists for this species. The cone peaks are taken from Thunnus albacares, its close relative with the same feeding ecology. Treat the hue rankings as indicative rather than exact. Tunas are strongly blue-shifted for the open ocean and have only a narrow separation between their two cone classes, so their colour discrimination is far poorer than their eyesight is sharp.
Spectral sensitivity
| Cone peaks | λmax | Chromophore |
|---|---|---|
| Short | 426 nm | A1 |
| Medium | 484 nm | A1 |
| Rod | 484 nm | A1 |
Rods do the work at dawn, dusk and night — which is when most people fish.
Lure table
Ranked by how much each colour stands out to a Atlantic bluefin tuna in these conditions. — Oceanic I, 78 m.
| Colour | Contrast | Seen from | Fish view | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | White | 97 | 47 m | Buy now | |
| 2 | Silver holographic Metallic finish | 95 | 46 m | Buy now | |
| 3 | Sexy shad | 94 | 47 m | Buy now | |
| 4 | Glow Glow finish — not modelled | 92 | 44 m | Buy now | |
| 5 | Bone | 91 | 44 m | Buy now | |
| 6 | Chrome Metallic finish | 91 | 44 m | Buy now | |
| 7 | Blue / white | 90 | 47 m | Buy now | |
| 8 | Pink / white Fluorescent finish | 88 | 47 m | Buy now | |
| 9 | Blueback herring | 88 | 46 m | Buy now | |
| 10 | Chartreuse / white Fluorescent finish | 87 | 47 m | Buy now | |
| Stands out least | |||||
| Green pumpkin | 27 | 16 m | |||
| Fluorescent orange | 25 | 15 m | |||
| Orange craw | 24 | 15 m | |||
| Copper | 23 | 14 m | |||
Contrast quoted at 1.0 m viewing distance. · Light that survives best here: 470 nm
Affiliate links: we earn a commission from Amazon, at no extra cost to you. The ranking above is not for sale.
Beyond the model’s range — Below about 60 m the daylight assumptions in this model stop holding. Read these numbers as indicative only.
Get these colours
The three that came out on top, searched on your own Amazon. The ranking above is worked out from the water and the fish, before any of these links exist.
Affiliate links: we earn a commission from Amazon, at no extra cost to you. The ranking above is not for sale.
Gear this page implies
- A lure kit with a spread of colours See on Amazon
The point of knowing which colour wins is having it in the box.
Affiliate links: we earn a commission from Amazon, at no extra cost to you.
What this water lets through
The clearest ocean there is. Deep blue, and blue penetrates furthest by far.
Water types
Target species
Questions people actually ask
Can a Atlantic bluefin tuna see colour?
Yes, but only just. It has 2 cone types, peaking at 426 nm, 484 nm, so it has a single dimension of hue where a human has 2.
Where does this data come from?
No measurement exists for this species. The cone peaks come from a congener with the same feeding ecology.
Sources
- Substituted from Thunnus albacares — Loew, E.R., McFarland, W.N., Mills, E.L. & Frank, D. (1993). Can. J. Zool. 71, 384–386.