Abstract: Tuna prefers to aggregate around floating objects. Based on this behavioral characteristic, people developed fish aggregation devices (FADs) to trap tuna, and made the catch and fishing efficiency of tuna purse seine fisheries improved greatly. However, there still exist uncertainties whether the FADs can attract tuna and what’s the potential impact of widely applying FADs in tuna purse seine fishery on tuna resources and oceanic pelagic ecosystem. Aiming at these uncertainties, scientists  conducted a great deal experiments to study the behavioral biology of tuna around FADs. This paper reviewed the related classic and more credible experiments in the past 30 years, and summed up five behavioral patterns of the tunas around drifting and anchored FADs, i.e., tropism behavior, schooling behavior, association behavior, feeding behavior, and vertical movement pattern. The related main research methods currently in use were introduced, and the issues on this subject needed to be paid great attention to were discussed.

Key words: tropical tuna, drifting FADs, anchored FADs, fish behavior, tagging experiment