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Halibut: A
halibut is a type of flatfish. Fishes bearing the name halibut live
in both the North Pacific and the North Atlantic Oceans, and are
highly-regarded food fish. The Pacific halibut, Hippoglossus
stenolepis, has been known to attain a weight of over 500 pounds
(230 kg) and can be eight feet (2.4 m) or greater in length; a very
large halibut is known as a "barn door". Females grow much larger
than males. Like the flounders, adult halibut typically have both
eyes on the right side of the head. Halibut have speckled top
(right) sides and creamy white under (left) sides, and can be
distinguished from other flatfish by the triangular
tail.
Halibut feed on almost any animal they can fit in their
mouths: animals found in their stomachs include sand lance, octopus,
crab, salmon, hermit crabs, lamprey and sculpin. Halibut can be
found at depths as shallow as a few metres to hundreds of metres
deep, and although they spend most of their time near the bottom,
halibut will move up in the water column to feed.
In Canadian
and U.S. waters of the North Pacific, halibut are taken by longline,
using chunks of octopus ("devilfish") or other bait on hooks
attached at regular intervals to a weighted line which can extend
for several miles across the bottom. Typically the fishing vessel
hauls gear after several hours to a day has passed. Careful
international management of Pacific halibut is necessary, as the
species occupies the waters of the United States, Canada, Russia,
and possibly Japan, and is a slow-maturing fish. Halibut do not
reproduce until age eight, when they are approximately 30 inches (76
cm) long, so capture of fish below this length is an unsustainable
practice and is against U.S. and Canadian regulations.
The
commercial halibut fishery in the North Pacific dates to the late
19th century, but halibut have been an important food source to
Native Americans and Native Canadians for thousands of years. There
is also a significant sport fishery in Alaska and British Columbia.
Halibut are not known as fighting fish, but their size and the
weather conditions that often prevail in their native waters can
make them a dangerous quarry. Halibut can be very strong, thus large
ones particularly those over 50 to 100 pounds (20 to 50 kg) are
usually subdued and quickly killed before they are brought onto the
boat.
Other species of halibut include:
Atlantic
Halibut, Hippoglossus hippoglossus
California Halibut,
Paralichthys californicus
Greenland Halibut, Reinhardtius
hippoglossoides
Australian Halibut, Parastromateus niger
Source: Wikipedia.org, Copyright (c)
2009.
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