THE HALIBUT 



419 



Arctic Circle, and return loaded with Halibut to 

 within three feet of their deck-beams. 



On the Pacific coast, according to Dr. T. H. 

 Bean, the Common HaUbut ranges from the Far- 

 allone Islands, opposite San Francisco, to Bering 

 Strait, its centre of abundance being found in 

 the Gulf of Alaska, near Kodiak. 



In point of size this fish is surpassed in our 

 waters by no other good food fish, the 500-pound 

 jewfishes being out of that class. A large 

 Hahbut is one which weighs 250 pounds or more. 

 The largest of reliable record (at least from 

 our waters) was observed by Captain Atwood, 

 at Provincetown, Massachusetts. It weighed 401 

 pounds gross (we are thankful for that odd one 



pound!) and 322 pounds dressed. Dr. G. Brown 

 Goode states that a Hahbut weighing 350 pounds 

 is from 7 to 8 feet long, by nearly 4 feet wide. 



The roe of a fish weighing nearly 200 pounds, 

 which was caught at a depth of 200 fathoms, in 

 water only 4° above freezing point, weighed 17 

 pounds, 2 ounces. A careful calculation made 

 at the laboratory of the United States Bureau of 

 Fisheries showed that the number of eggs in 

 the mass was about 2,182,773. 



The Hahbut catch in twelve months of 1898-9 

 amounted to a total of nineteen million pounds, 

 having a market value of $797,222, and all cred- 

 ited to Maine, Massachusetts, Washington and 

 Oregon. 



