White tuna

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White tuna is a term that may apply to two different species eaten in Japanese cuisine :

  • Albacore tuna, Thunnus alalunga - the pale-fleshed tuna favoured by the canning industry, also known as shiro maguro, bin-naga maguro, or bincho maguro
  • Escolar, Lepidocybium flavobrunneum - which is a snake mackerel, not a tuna. It has been banned in some countries, including Japan, because of the laxative effect of the wax esters in its flesh.

"Super white tuna" refers to the escolar but not the albacore.