HALIBUT. 
the dorsal edge), another between the 3rd and 4th rays, 
and a third between the 12th and 13th. 
In their essential arrangement the internal organs 
resemble those of the preceding species; but the ab- 
dominal cavity is more simple, without secondary con- 
tinuations in a backward direction or with only short 
secondary cavities to receive the ovaries. The length 
of the intestinal canal is also less; but a greater part 
of it is made up of the oesophagus and stomach, which 
are scarcely separated from each other externally. The 
stomach not only extends along the whole anterior 
margin of the postabdominal bone, but also turns up- 
wards at this point from the bottom to the middle of 
the abdominal cavity, where the pylorus is furnished 
with four large and long appendages, one of them fol- 
lowing the under surface of the stomach in a backward 
direction and the other three the small intestine. The 
liver, gall-bladder, and spleen are situated as in most 
Flatfishes, but they are all comparatively small. The 
urinary bladder, on the other hand, is large, and on 
each side of it lie the almost symmetrical testes or 
ovaries, which, as well as the urethra, open into the 
urogenital aperture mentioned above. 
In young Halibuts (Plate XVII, fig. 1) the colora- 
tion of the eye. side is light chocolate-brown, with wavy 
patches of a lighter shade. In some cases, the ground- 
colour is broken by darker, irregular, but larger patches. 
The blind side is white. The fins are of the same co- 
lour as the body, with waves of a darker tint, but the 
dorsal, anal, and caudal fins are light, shading into 
yellow, at the margin, and the anterior part of the 
dorsal fin is white or at least light, even on the eye 
side. In older Halibuts (Plate XVII, fig. 2) the colo- 
ration of the eye side grows darker and darker until 
it is almost black, the colour which we generally see 
in the fish-markets, v. Wright has endeavoured to re- 
produce in his figure the slimy coat that gives this fish 
“a fairly bright lustre, as though it were varnished” 
(Kroyer). The pupil is dark blue, and the iris yellow 
with a silvery lustre, but furnished, next the pupil, 
with a ring of a bright golden lustre. 
The Halibut has a wide geographical range, and 
is strictly a Sub-arctic (Boreo-arctic) species, the exten- 
sion of which coincides pretty closely with that of the 
Cod. These two species are found together on most 
of the large fishing-grounds in the Arctic Ocean and 
413 
the north of the Atlantic and Pacific. Whether the 
Halibut occurs off Spitzbergen, is not yet known; but 
off Bear Island it is common. Even Pallas knew that 
it occurred on the coast of Kola Peninsula, and was 
sent from there in winter to St. Petersburg in a frozen 
condition. He also knew of its occurrence in the Pa- 
cific, between Kamchatka and America. It is common 
off Iceland and is at least not rare on the coast of 
Greenland up to Omenak (Eat. 71° X.). According to 
Bean 11 it is one of the most important fishes in the 
economy of the natives of Alaska, up to St. Michaels, 
where it attains a weight of 250 lbs. Whether it oc- 
curs along the whole north coast of America or Asia, 
is not yet known. On the European side of the At- 
lantic it seldom goes further south than Ireland and 
the Channel. Moreau states, however, that it has once 
(in 1874) been taken off Biarritz (the south-west corner 
of France). On the American side, like some other 
Arctic species, it goes south to Cape Cod, to the end 
of the Arctic current; and according to Brown-Goode 
a few solitary specimens have been found off Sandy 
Hook. In the Pacific it is taken as far south as off 
Vancouver Island and conveyed thence to the fish- 
market of San Francisco. 
On the west coast of Scandinavia the Halibut is 
common, at suitable spots, from the extreme north of 
Norway to Ivullen, and in the deep channel, ’with from 
12 to 15 fathoms of water, in the north of the Sound. 
Further south, south of Helsingborg, it is rare; but 
Winther saw solitary specimens caught on the north 
coast of Saltholm. It is no less rare in the Baltic, but 
solitary specimens have been met with even off Kiel. 
Mori us and Heincke mention two specimens, taken in 
this part of the Baltic, one of which weighed 93 lbs. 
It has never been met with further up the Baltic. 
Malm gives the following particulars of the habits 
of the Halibut on the coast of Bohuslan: 
“The larger specimens generally live at great depths, 
and seldom ascend into less than 25 fathoms of water, 
at which depth they are taken on long-lines all the 
year round, but chiefly from January to April. The 
smaller specimens, on the other hand, often occur in 
much shallower water, where they are caught not so 
very seldom in Flounder-nets and on Haddock-lines, 
at depths varying between 8 and 25 fathoms. 1 have 
seen small specimens taken in the seine in 4 or 5 fa- 
Cat. Fisli. U. S. Nat. Mtis., Gt. Intern. Fish. Exh., London 1883, p. 20. 
