3 IO 
AMERICAN FISHES. 
food. The average size of a full-grown female is somewhat between one 
hundred and one hundred and fifty pounds, though they are sometimes 
much heavier. Capt. Collins, who has had many years’ experience in the 
Gloucester Halibut fishery, assures me that he has never seen one which 
would weigh over two hundred and fifty pounds, and that one weighing 
over two hundred and fifty pounds is considered large. There are, how¬ 
ever, well-authenticated instances of their attaining greater dimensions. 
Capt. Atwood, in a communication to the Boston Society of Natural 
History, in 1864, stated that the largest he had ever taken weighed, when 
dressed, two hundred and thirty-seven pounds, and would probably have 
weighed three hundred pounds as taken from the water. In July, 1879, 
however, the same reliable observer saw at Provincetown two individuals 
taken near Race Point, one of which weighed three hundred and fifty-nine 
pounds (three hundred and two pounds when dressed), the other, four 
hundred and one pounds (three hundred and twenty-two pounds when 
dressed). 
There is a tradition in Boston that Mr. Anthony Plolbrook, one of the 
early fish dealers of that city, had in his possession a Halibut, taken at 
New Ledge, sixty miles southeast of Portland, which weighed over six 
hundred pounds. This story, which is recorded by Storer in his “ Fishes 
of Massachusetts,” Capt. Atwood believes to be untrue. Halibut, weigh¬ 
ing 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 
of ten or twelve such, captured on the New England coast during the past 
ten years. Nilsson, a Swedish ichthyologist, has mentioned the capture 
of a Halibut 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 Prof. Yerrill in a dredge-net in the Straits of Canso. 
