Pacific halibut
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| iPacific halibut | ||||||||||||||
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| Image:Pacific halibut.JPG The pacific halibut is well camouflaged in its natural environment.
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| Hippoglossus stenolepis (Smith, 1904) |
The Pacific halibut, Hippoglossus stenolepis, is a large flatfish found in the northern Pacific Ocean closely related to the Atlantic Halibut. Its range is from the Bering Sea, the Aleutian Islands and Hokkaido, Japan to Baja California, Mexico. The largest reported specimen was 267 cm and they can reach an age of 42 years<ref name="fishbase">"Hippoglossus stenolepis". FishBase. Ed. Ranier Froese and Daniel Pauly. February 2006 version. N.p.: FishBase, 2006.</ref>. They can be found on a range of bottoms. The young individuals are usually found close to the shore, whereas the older individuals prefer deeper water, especially in the winter. It is a voracious predator and feeds on fish, squid, crabs, clams and other invertebrates. It is treasured by fishermen because of its great size and tasty white meat.
It is usually selectively fished by longline but is also caught along with many other bottom-dwelling fish by trawlers.
See the article on halibut for more details.
[edit] References
<references/>
- Clover, Charles. 2004. The End of the Line: How overfishing is changing the world and what we eat. Ebury Press, London. ISBN 0-09-189780-7
