Common Halibut 



weighing more than 250 pounds. Captain Atwood mentions one 

 which dressed 237 pounds, and 2 others taken near Race Point 

 which weighed 359 and 401 pounds respectively. Dr. Goode had 

 the record of 10 or 12 captured on the New England coast, 

 each weighing 300 to 400 pounds, and Nilsson records one from 

 the coast of Sweden that weighed 720 pounds. A halibut weigh- 

 ing 350 pounds is about 7 or 8 feet long and nearly 4 feet wide. 

 The male halibut is always much smaller than the female, and 

 rarely exceeds 50 pounds in weight. 



Very large fish are not so highly esteemed as those of smaller 

 size. A fat female of about 80 pounds is said by experts to be 

 the most savoury. 



The halibut ranks among the most valued food-fishes of the 

 world. In 1898 the halibut landed at Gloucester and Boston 

 amounted to 10,378,181 pounds, valued at $576,382. In 1899 it 

 was somewhat less in quantity (9,025,182 pounds) but valued at 

 $600,000. The halibut fishery on our Pacific coast is also of 

 vast importance. The catch on the coast of Washington, Oregon 

 and California in 1895 aggregated 1,719,515 pounds, valued at 

 $39,818. In 1899 the catch was 6,877,640 pounds, valued at 

 ,$192,280. And since 1899 the catch has enormously increased, 

 but no exact figures are available. 



At the present time the shipment of fresh halibut from the 

 Pacific Coast to the East is an important business. It was only 

 to-day (March 5) that we noticed in the daily papers an account 

 of the running of a fish-train from Vancouver to Boston the 

 "Halibut Express," "comprising 9 cars of fresh halibut, I of 

 Puget Sound salmon, and i of Squallish Valley hops," a 

 through fish-train from the Pacific to the Atlantic in 6 days! 



The only species of Lyopsetta is L. exilis. This is a small 

 flounder, rarely exceeding a foot in length and a pound in 

 weight, which is exceedingly abundant in deep water on sandy 

 bottom from San Francisco to Puget Sound. It is taken in the 

 sweep-nets, or paranzelle, in the spring off Point Reyes in enor- 

 mous numbers, sometimes a ton at a haul. It is less abundant 

 in Puget Sound, though taken in considerable numbers in seines. 

 Its flesh is soft, and the fish does not sell well, 



The genus Eopsetta contains a single species, E. jordani. 

 This flounder, known on the California const almost exclusively 

 as "sole," is found from Monterey to Puget Sound. It is rare 



