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Author: Linnaeus, 1758

Hippoglossus hippoglossus Linnaeus, 1758

Diagnosis: dorsal finrays 98-110; anal finrays 73-85. Lateral line scales about 160. Colour: uniformly dark brown or black, young marbled or spotted with paler marks. Size: the largest flatfish species, reaching about 200 cm SL.

Habitat: benthic at 50-2,000 m, but occasionally caught pelagically; requires high salinities. Food: an active predator, feeding on a great variety of prey. Reproduction: spawns in December-April at depths of 300-1,000 m, with temperatures of 5-7 °C. Commercial importance: a valuable food fish, mainly caught on long lines.

Distribution: eastern Atlantic, from Bay of Biscay to Spitsbergen, Barents Sea, Iceland and eastern Greenland. Elsewhere, from Cape ~od to middle part of western Greenland.

Eggs, larvae and young stages. Ehrenbaum, 1905: 177-180 | Koefoed, 1907: pl. LXXVII (fig. 9) | Norman, 1934: 292 (references).
Otoliths (sagitta). Norman, 1934, fig. 8D | Schmidt, 1968: 60.

Halibut (Hippoglossus hippoglossus)