THE FOOD AND GAME FISHES OF NEW YORK. 453 



143. Halibut (Hippoglossus Jiippoglossus Linnaeus). 



Pleuronectes Jiippoglossus MITCHILL, Rept. Fish. N. Y., 10, 1814 ; Trans. Lit. &. Phil. Soc. 



N. Y, I, 386, 1815. 

 Hippoglossus vulgaris DEKAY, N. Y. Fauna, Fish., 294, pi. 49, fig. 157, 1842; STOKER, 



Hist. Fish. Mass., 192, pi. XXX, fig. x, 1867; GOODE, Fish. & Fish. Ind. U. S., I, 



189, pi. 54, 1884. 

 Hippoglossus Jiippoglossus JORDAN & EVER.MANN, Bull. 47, U. S. Nat. Mus., Ill, 2611, 



1898; IV, pi. CCCLXXI, fig. 918, 1900. 



Color, nearly uniform dark brown ; blind side white." 



The Halibut lives in all northern seas, ranging southward to Sandy Hook, or 

 beyond, and occasionally to the Farallones off San Francisco. 



The Halibut was described by both Mitchill and DeKay under its present name. 

 DeKay says that the capture of the Halibut on the shores of Nantucket at one time 



HALIBUT. 



afforded employment to 80 vessels of from 60 to So tons each. He says the fish is 

 very voracious, swimming near the ground and devouring other flat fishes, as well as 

 shells and crustaceans. It occurs on both shores of the Atlantic as also in the 

 North Pacific, migrating south on the approach of spring and returning in June or 

 July. An individual was found some years ago near Colonial Beach, in the Potomac 

 River. The fish grows to the length of 8 feet or more, and the weight of several 

 hundred pounds. It is a very valuable food fish. In the Pacific, according to 

 Jordan and Evermann, it extends its range southward to the Farallones, off San 

 Francisco. 



The Halibut was formerly not very uncommon in Vineyard Sound, where it is 

 now very rare. In 1872 and 1873 V. N. Edwards caught a number weighing 235 or 

 240 pounds while fishing for Cod. April 16, 1900, a Halibut weighing 100 pounds 

 was caught off Block Island by Cod fishermen, and was taken to Newport. The fish 



