194 NATURAL HISTOKY OF AQUATIC ANIMALS. 



There is a tradition in Boston that Mr. Anthony Holbrook, one of the early fish-dealers 

 of that city, had in his possession a Halibut, taken at New Ledge, sixty miles southeast of Port 

 land, which weighed over six hundred pounds. This story, which is recorded by Storer iu liis 

 "Fisheries of Massachusetts," Captain At wood believes to be untrue. Halibut, weighing from 

 three to four hundred pounds, though unusual in comparison with the ordinary size, are by no 

 means rare. I have before me a record often or twelve such, captured on the New England const 

 during the past ten years. Nilsson, a Swedish ichthyologist, has mentioned the capture of a Hali- 

 but on that coast which weighed seven hundred and twenty pounds. There are stories of Halibut 

 ten feet in length; a fish weighing three hundred and fifty pounds is between seven and eight feet 

 long and nearly four feet in width. The largest individuals are not considered nearly so good for 

 table use as those of less than one hundred pounds' weight. A fat female of eighty pounds is, 

 by good judges, considered to be in the highest state of perfection. Males are not, however, so 

 highly esteemed. Small Halibut, known as "Chicken Halibut," ranging from ten to twenty 

 pounds, are much sought after by epicures, and bring a high price in the New York and Boston 

 markets. They are comparatively rare, however, and a Halibut weighing ten pounds or less is 

 rarely seen; the smallest recorded on our coast was about five inches in length and was taken by 

 Professor Verrill in a dredge-net in the Strait of Canso. 



The Halibut of the Pacific are apparently similar in dimensions to those of New England. 

 Mr. Anderson, inspector of fisheries for British Columbia, states that they there attain a weight of 

 200 pounds. 



The wholesale dealers of Gloucester, in buying fresh Halibut from the fishermen, recognize 

 two grades ; one, which they call " Grey Halibut," they consider to be of inferior value, and pay 

 a lower price for. The Grey Halibut are distinguished by dark cloudings or blotches upon the 

 under side, which in the most remarkable fishes are pure white. Almost all the largest Halibut 

 are classed among the Greys. Fishermen claim that there is no actual difference between the gray 

 and the white fish, and it is a fair question whether they are not right. 



MIGRATIONS. It is useless to attempt to describe here the migrations of the Halibut from 

 place to place; although much information has been received upon this subject, the problem re- 

 quires long and careful study. 



The history of the halibut fishery has been a peculiar one. At the beginning of the present 

 century these fish were exceedingly abundant in Massachusetts Bay. From 1830 to 1850, and 

 even later, they were extremely abundant on George's Banks; since 1850 they have partially 

 disappeared from this region, and the fishermen have since been following them to other banks, 

 and since 1874 out into deeper and deeper water, and the fisheries are now carried on almost 

 exclusively in the gullies between the off-shore banks and on the outer edges of the banks in water 

 one hundred to three hundred and fifty fathoms in depth. 



Captain Benjamin Ashby, of Noank, Connecticut, who is familiar with the fisheries south of 

 Cape Cod, informs me that they frequent the deepest water in the spring and fall, and that they 

 come up in the shoal water, in sixty or seventy fathoms, in May and June, while in July they begin 

 to go out again into deep water, and by the latter part of the month are on the way into the gully 

 on northeast part of George's Bank. 



Captain Collins briefly expresses his views as follows: " Halibut are found in the deep water 

 say from one hundred to two hundred and fifty fathoms in depth on the edge of all the banks from 

 George's to the Grand Bank the year round. Sometimes, however, they are found more numerous in 

 comparatively shallow water in the winter and early spring. This was the case in the winters and 

 springs of 1875-'76 and 1876-'77, as well as in the year preceding. But in 1878 there was no great 



