Kim Kyung-Hoon / Reuters

A chef holds the head of a bluefin tuna after cutting its meat at a sushi restaurant in Tokyo on Jan. 5, 2012. The 269-kilogram (593 lbs) tuna caught off the coast of northern Japan, was sold at a record of 56.49 million yen ($736,234) in the country's first fish auction of the year.

Franck Robichon / EPA

The record-breaking fish on display at Tsukiji market.

msnbc.com staff and news services report from TOKYO: 

This tuna is worth savoring: It cost nearly three-quarters of a million dollars.

A bluefin tuna caught off northeastern Japan fetched a record 56.49 million yen, or about $736,000, Thursday in the first auction of the year at Tokyo's Tsukiji fish market.

The price for the 593-pound tuna beat last year's record of 32.49 million yen or about $416,000.

A Sushi-Zanmai shop in Tsujiki was selling fatty tuna sushi from the prized fish for 418 yen ($5.45) apiece Thursday.

"It's superb. I can do nothing but smile. I am very happy," said Kosuke Shimogawara, a 51-year-old customer, who pointed out that if sold at cost, each piece of sushi could cost as much as 8,000 yen ($96). Read the full story.

Shizuo Kambayashi / AP

Kiyoshi Kimura, president of Kiyomura Co., center left, cuts the bluefin at his Sushi Zanmai restaurant.

Kim Kyung-Hoon / Reuters

A chef holds part of the fish after cutting.

Yoshikazu Tsuno / AFP - Getty Images

A customer eats sushi freshly sliced up from the bluefin.