490 Suborder Heterosomata 
of no great depth, and in very many localities it exists in great 
abundance, reaching a length of 6 to 8 feet and a weight of 600 
pounds. It sometimes ranges well out to sea and enters deeper 
waters than the cod. The flesh is firm, white, and of good 
quality, although none of the flatfishes have much flavor, the 
muscles being mostly destitute of oil. Small halibut, called 
“chicken halibut,’’ are highly esteemed. 
Dr. Goode states that the ‘“‘history of the halibut fishery has 
been a peculiar one. At the beginning of the present century 
these fishes were exceedingly 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 offshore banks and on the outer edges of the banks, in 
water 100 to 350 fathoms in depth. 
“The halibut with its large mouth is naturally a voracious 
fish, and probably would disdain few objects in the way of fresh 
meat it would come across. It is said, however, to feed more 
especially upon crabs and mollusks in addition to fish. These 
fish ‘they waylay lying upon the bottom, invisible by reason 
of their flat bodies, colored to correspond to the general color 
of the sand or mud upon which they rest. When in pursuit of 
their prey they are active and often come quite to the surface, 
especially when in summer they follow the capelin to the shoal 
water near the land. They feed upon skates, cod, haddock, 
menhaden, mackerel, herring, lobsters, flounders, sculpins, 
grenadiers, turbot, Norway haddock, bank-clams, and anything 
else that is eatable and can be found in the same waters.’ Fre- 
quently halibut may be seen chasing flatfish over the bottom of 
the water. About Cape Sable their favorite food seems to be 
haddock and cusk. A very singular mode of attacking a cod 
has been recorded by Captain Collins, an experienced fisherman 
and good observer. They often kill their prey by blows of the 
tail, a fact which is quite novel and interesting. He has described 
an instance which occurred on a voyage home from Sable Island 
in 1877: ‘The man at the wheel sang out that he saw a hali- 
but flapping its tail about a quarter of a mile off our starboard 
quarter. I looked through the spy-glass and his statement was 
