The Halibut

A is a type of flatfish from the family of the righteye flounders (Pleuronectidae). This name is derived from Dutch heilbot. live in both the North Pacific and the North Atlantic oceans and are highly regarded food fish.

The is the largest of all flat fish, with an average weight of about 25 lb - 30 lb, but they can grow to be as much as 600 lbs. The is blackish-grey on the top side and off-white on the underbelly side. When the is born the eyes are on both sides of its head so it has to swim like a salmon. After about 6 months one eye will rotate to the other side of its head, making it look more like the flounder . This happens at the same time that the stationary eyed side begins to develop a blackish-grey pigment while the other side remains white. This disguises a from above (blending with the ocean floor) and from below (blending into the light from the sky).

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, sculpin, cod, pollock, herring and flounder. can be found at depths as shallow as a few meters to hundreds of meters deep, and although they spend most of their time near the bottom, will move up in the water column to feed. In most ecosystems the is near the top of the marine food chain. In the North Pacific the only common predators of are the sea lion (Eumetopias jubatus), the orca whale (Orcinus orca), and the salmon shark (Lamna ditropis).

The commercial fishery in the North Pacific dates to the late 19th century and today is one of the largest and most lucrative fisheries in the region. In Canadian and U.S. waters of the North Pacific, are taken by longline, using chunks of octopus ("devilfish") or other bait on circle hooks attached at regular intervals to a weighted line that can extend for several miles across the bottom. Typically the fishing vessel hauls gear after several hours up to a day has passed.

Halibut have been an important food source to Native Americans and Canadian First Nations for thousands of years and continue to be a key element to many coastal subsistence economies. The management of the resource to accommodate the competing interests of commercial, sport, and subsistence users is a contentious current issue.

The Atlantic Fishery of has been extremely depleted through overfishing to such an extent that it may possibly be declared an endangered species. Almost all now bought on the East coast are now Pacific halibut.