In a story that some might find hard to believe, a bidder in Japan just paid 5 million yen-or $46,000 USD-for a 2.7-pound snow crab at an auction in Tottori, and it is likely to be recognized as a Guinness World Record.
The local fisheries association announced Thursday that Kanemasa Hamashita Shoten was the winning bidder at the season’s first auction in the port city of Tottori, the Kyodo News and Japan Times reported.
The catch was made off Tottori Prefecture after the fishing season began in the region after midnight.
We came to this year’s first auction hoping that we would bid the world’s highest price again,a company official said.I believe it is a good crab filled with meat.
The crab, described as a gourmet itsukiboshi crab, will be sold to a restaurant in Tokyo’s Ginza shopping district.
Last year, Kanemasa paid 2 million yen or $18,316 USD for an itsukiboshi snow crab that was recognized by Guinness World Records as the most ever paid for a crab.
That figure was surpassed Wednesday when the first auction of the season in the town of Shinonsen, Hyogo Prefecture, in western Japan was held. A snow crab weighing 2.6 pounds went for 3 million yen or $27,469.
The snow crab auctions are reminiscent of auctions held each year for bluefin tuna that command a price of millions of dollars.
In January, Kiyoshi Kimura of the Sushizanmai chain paid a record 333.6 million yen-a whopping $3.1 million USD for a 613-pound bluefin that was double the record price he paid for a tuna in 2013.
The tuna looks so tasty and very fresh, but I think I paid too much,he told reporters afterward, according to Reuters.