Hippoglossus stenolepis, Pacific halibut : fisheries, gamefish, aquarium

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Hippoglossus stenolepis Schmidt, 1904

Pacific halibut
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Hippoglossus stenolepis   AquaMaps   Data sources: GBIF OBIS
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Image of Hippoglossus stenolepis (Pacific halibut)
Hippoglossus stenolepis
Picture by Archipelago Marine Research Ltd.

Common names from other countries

Flétan du Pacifique, Fletán del Pacífico, Палтус белокорый тихоокеанский, ... more

Classification / Names Common names | Synonyms | Catalog of Fishes(genus, species) | ITIS | CoL | WoRMS | Cloffa

Teleostei (teleosts) > Pleuronectiformes (Flatfishes) > Pleuronectidae (Righteye flounders) > Hippoglossinae
Etymology: Hippoglossus: Greek, ippos = horse + Greek, glossa = tongue (Ref. 45335); stenolepis: From the Greek hippos (horse), glossa (tounge), steno (narrow), lepis, (scale). In 1904, a Russian scientist by the name of P.J. Schmidt first proposed the scientific name based on anatomical differences such as scale shape, pectoral fin length, and body shape which he thought distinguished it from the Atlantic halibut (Hippoglossus hippoglossus). (Ref. 94075).

Environment: milieu / climate zone / depth range / distribution range Ecology

Marine; demersal; oceanodromous (Ref. 138310); depth range 0 - 1200 m (Ref. 50550). Temperate; 73°N - 42°N, 138°E - 123°W (Ref. 54557)

Distribution Territories | FAO areas | Ecosystems | Occurrences | Point map | Introductions | Faunafri

North Pacific: Hokkaido, Japan and the Sea of Okhotsk to the southern Chukchi Sea and Point Camalu, Baja California, Mexico.

Length at first maturity / Size / Weight / Age

Maturity: Lm ?  range ? - ? cm
Max length : 258 cm TL male/unsexed; (Ref. 40637); 267.0 cm TL (female); max. published weight: 363.0 kg (Ref. ); max. reported age: 55 years (Ref. 55701)

Short description Identification keys | Morphology | Morphometrics

Dorsal spines (total): 0; Dorsal soft rays (total): 90 - 106; Anal spines: 0; Anal soft rays: 69 - 80; Vertebrae: 49 - 51. Dorsal origin above anterior part of pupil in upper eye, generally low, higher in middle. Caudal spread and slightly lunate. Pectorals small.
Body shape (shape guide): fusiform / normal.

Biology     Glossary (e.g. epibenthic)

Found on various types of bottoms (Ref. 2850). Young are found near shore, moving out to deeper waters as they grow older (Ref. 6885). Older individuals typically move from deeper water along the edge of the continental shelf where they spend the winter, to shallow coastal water (27-274 m) for the summer (Ref. 28499). Feed on fishes, crabs, clams, squids, and other invertebrates (Ref. 6885). Utilized fresh, dried or salted, smoked and frozen; eaten steamed, fried, broiled, boiled, microwaved and baked (Ref. 9988).

Life cycle and mating behavior Maturity | Reproduction | Spawning | Eggs | Fecundity | Larvae

Main reference Upload your references | References | Coordinator : Amaoka, Kunio | Collaborators

Vinnikov, K.A., R.C. Thomson and T.A. Munroe, 2018. Revised classification of the righteye flounders (Teleostei: Pleuronectidae) based on multilocus phylogeny with complete taxon sampling. Molecular phylogenetics and evolution, 125:147-162. (Ref. 122998)

IUCN Red List Status (Ref. 130435: Version 2025-2 (Global))

  Least Concern (LC) ; Date assessed: 05 November 2020

CITES

Not Evaluated

CMS (Ref. 116361)

Not Evaluated

Threat to humans

  Harmless





Human uses

Fisheries: highly commercial; gamefish: yes; aquarium: public aquariums
FAO - Fisheries: landings, species profile; Publication: search | FishSource | Sea Around Us

More information

Trophic ecology
Food items (preys)
Diet composition
Food consumption
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Predators
Ecology
Ecology
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Max. ages / sizes
Length-weight rel.
Length-length rel.
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Summary page | Point data | Common names | Photos

Internet sources

AFORO (otoliths) | Aquatic Commons | BHL | Cloffa | Websites from users | Check FishWatcher | CISTI | Catalog of Fishes: genus, species | DiscoverLife | ECOTOX | FAO - Fisheries: landings, species profile; Publication: search | Faunafri | Fishipedia | Fishtrace | GloBI | Google Books | Google Scholar | Google | IGFA World Record | OceanAdapt | OneZoom | Open Tree of Life | Otolith Atlas of Taiwan Fishes | Public aquariums | PubMed | Reef Life Survey | Socotra Atlas | TreeBase | Tree of Life | Wikipedia: Go, Search | World Records Freshwater Fishing | Zoobank | Zoological Record

Estimates based on models

Preferred temperature (Ref. 123201): 0.3 - 5.7, mean 1.6 °C (based on 454 cells).
Phylogenetic diversity index (Ref. 82804):  PD50 = 0.7500   [Uniqueness, from 0.5 = low to 2.0 = high].
Bayesian length-weight: a=0.00631 (0.00396 - 0.01004), b=3.14 (3.00 - 3.28), in cm total length, based on LWR estimates for this species & (Sub)family-body (Ref. 93245).
Trophic level (Ref. 69278):  4.1   ±0.2 se; based on diet studies.
Resilience (Ref. 120179):  Very Low, minimum population doubling time more than 14 years (rm=0.2; K=0.05; tm=5-20; tmax=55).
Prior r = 0.11, 95% CL = 0.07 - 0.17, Based on 3 full stock assessments.
Fishing Vulnerability (Ref. 59153):  Very high vulnerability (86 of 100). 🛈
Climate Vulnerability (Ref. 125649):  Moderate to high vulnerability (45 of 100). 🛈
Price category (Ref. 80766):   Very high.
Nutrients (Ref. 124155):  Calcium = 8.89 [2.92, 21.69] mg/100g; Iron = 0.202 [0.078, 0.561] mg/100g; Protein = 18 [16, 20] %; Omega3 = 0.391 [0.169, 0.895] g/100g; Selenium = 42.3 [14.7, 110.0] μg/100g; VitaminA = 10.8 [2.5, 41.8] μg/100g; Zinc = 0.412 [0.179, 0.699] mg/100g (wet weight);