Skip to content
FastestThings

Fish & Sharks

Little tunny

Svendsen and colleagues estimate a little tunny burst at 12.5 mph (5.6 m/s) from muscle data.

A little tunny can swim about 12.5 mph (5.6 m/s), an estimate.

Also known as Euthynnus alletteratus
Post on X (opens in a new tab)

Top speed

Published as 5.6 m/sPublished as 5.6 m/sPublished as 5.6 m/s

Svendsen et al. 2016, Biology Open. Muscle-contraction estimate for little tunny, point value 12.5 mph (5.6 m/s), reported uncertainty ±0.447 mph (0.2 m/s). Not a logged swim.

EstimatedBiology Open (opens source in a new tab)

In context

  • 54% of Usain Bolt's 100 m world-record paceSourced · Usain Bolt, 100 m in 9.58 s. World Athletics, Berlin 2009. Averaged over the race
  • 19% of a cheetah's timed top speedSourced · Cheetah, 29 m/s. Sharp 1997, mean of three timed runs over 201.2 m
  • A football field in 16 sConstant · American football field, 100 yd (91.44 m)

Worked out from the sourced figure above, which stays the ranked number.

Quick answers

People also ask

How fast can a little tunny swim?

A little tunny can swim about 12.5 mph (5.6 m/s), an estimate.

Is that figure claimed or verified?

Little tunny is labeled Estimated. Calculated or approximated rather than directly timed.

What is the source?

The figure cites Biology Open, “Maximum swimming speeds of sailfish and three other large marine predatory fish species based on muscle contraction time and stride length: a myth revisited.”

Where does Little tunny rank?

Little tunny is 4th of 10 on Fastest Fish & Sharks.

Mechanism

Why it's so fast

Svendsen and colleagues estimate a little tunny burst, Euthynnus alletteratus, at about 12.5 mph (5.6 m/s) from muscle data.

Species
Euthynnus alletteratus
Estimate
12.5 mph (5.6 m/s)
Method
Muscle twitch

  1. A tuna, estimated

    The little tunny's 12.5 mph (5.6 m/s) is the muscle-twitch estimate, between the barracuda's 6.2 and the dorado's 4.0. It is not the Atlantic bluefin's logged 5.6 mph (2.5 m/s) burst in Waller's table, which is a different species and a tag.

  2. No logger

    Svendsen did not report a logged swim for this fish. The 12.5 mph (5.6 m/s) figure is what the muscle calculation produced. A higher popular number for tunas is not substituted.

Provenance

Every measurement

Claimed, measured and official figures side by side, each with its source. The ranked figure is marked.

  1. 20.2km/h12.5mph5.6m/s10.9knRanked figure

    Svendsen et al. 2016, Biology Open. Muscle-contraction estimate for little tunny, point value 12.5 mph (5.6 m/s), reported uncertainty ±0.447 mph (0.2 m/s). Not a logged swim.

    ±0.447 mph (0.2 m/s) stays beside the main figure. The comparison uses 12.5 mph (5.6 m/s).

    Estimated
    Biology Open (opens source in a new tab)

Reference

Specs

Species
Euthynnus alletteratus
Estimate
12.5 mph (5.6 m/s)
Method
Muscle twitch

Context

Background

Svendsen and colleagues estimate the little tunny at 12.5 mph (5.6 m/s), uncertainty 0.447 mph (0.2 m/s), from the same muscle-contraction method as the sailfish. The figure is 12.5 mph (5.6 m/s), qualifier estimated.

A logged shortfin mako burst of 11.2 mph (5.02 m/s) is slower on this list and was measured a different way. The intro of the list says the methods differ.

Head to head

Compare Little tunny

Open the speed race

Spot a wrong number?

Every report is read by a person, and corrections are dated on the page.