What is a Halibut?
A: Halibut is the common name for three flatfish in the genera Hippoglossus
and Reinhardtius from the family of right-eye flounders.
The word is derived from what?
A: haly (holy) and butte (flat fish), for its popularity on Catholic holy
days.
Halibut are demersal fish and are highly regarded as a
what?
A: A food fish as well as a sport fish.
A 2018 cladistic analysis based on genetics and
morphology showed that the Greenland halibut diverged from a lineage that
gave rise to what?
A: Atlantic and Pacific halibuts.
The common ancestor of all three diverged from a
lineage that gave rise to the genus Verasper, comprising what?
A: The spotted halibut and barfin flounder.
Halibut tend to be a mottled dark brown on their
upward-facing side and white on their what?
A: Underside
Where does the Atlantic halibut live?
A: In the North Atlantic.
Where does the Pacific halibut, live?
A: In the North Pacific Ocean.
Where does the Greenland halibut live?
A: In the cold northern Atlantic, northern Pacific, and Arctic Oceans
The Atlantic halibut is the world's largest what?
A: Flatfish.
The IGFA record was apparently broken off the waters of
Norway in July 2013 by a 2.62-metre (8-foot-7-inch) fish weighing how much?
A: 234-kilogram (515-pound).
Halibut have very small scales invisible to the naked
eye embedded where?
A: In their skin.
Halibut are symmetrical at birth with one eye on each
side of what?
A: The head.
Then, about six months later, during larval
metamorphosis one eye does what?
A: Migrates to the other side of the head.
The eyes are permanently set once what happens?
A: The skull is fully ossified.
At the same time, the stationary-eyed side darkens to
match the top side, while the other side does what?
A: Remains white.
This color scheme disguises halibut from above
(blending with the ocean floor) and from below (blending into the light from
the sky) and is known as what?
A: Countershading.
Halibut feed on almost any fish or
animal they can
what?
A: Fit into their mouths.
Juvenile halibut feed on what?
A: Small crustaceans and other bottom-dwelling organisms.
Animals found in their stomachs include what?
A: Sand lance, octopus, crab, salmon, hermit crabs, lamprey, sculpin, cod,
pollock, herring, and flounder, as well as other halibut.
Halibut live at depths ranging from a few meters to how
deep?
A: Hundreds of meters.
Where do they spend most of their time?
A: Near the bottom, halibut may move up in the water column to feed.
In most ecosystems, the halibut is near the top of
what?
A: The marine food chain.
In the North Pacific, common predators are what?
A: Sea lions, killer whales, salmon sharks and humans.