Pacific Halibut (Hippoglossus stenolepis)

The Pacific Halibut or Hippoglossus stenolepis is a very large saltwater fish that is found in many places around the world including Alaska. These fish are just huge! Pacific Halibut can grow to lengths of almost 9' and weigh in at almost 700lbs!

This fish almost looks it got pancaked. Their long flat bodies are something to see. The width of these fish is only about 1/3 of its overall length. Their undersides are lighter than their top sides. This characteristic makes them appear less detectable by both predator and prey.
Often found on the bottom of the sea floor these fish feed on a lot of different sources including cod, turbot, pollock, crabs, Arctic Alligatorfish and shrimp. As you can imagine these fish are very popular among fisherman not only for their enormous size, but also because they are considered to be one of the best tasting fish in the entire ocean. Pacfic Halibut also have a unique ability to not spoil as quickly as many other types of fish in our oceans.

This fish is not exactly the quickest grower, but the fact that it can live to around 50 years old gives it plenty of time to reach its extreme size.

These fish have very long migratory trips during the winter spawning months. A typical female Pacific Halibut of 250lbs can produce 4 million eggs! These eggs float freely in the ocean until they hatch. They spend the beginnings of their lives in shallow waters and move to the sea floor at about 6 months of age. To check out this monster in action watch this video...





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