Greenland halibut

Greenland halibut
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Actinopterygii
Order: Carangiformes
Family: Pleuronectidae
Genus: Reinhardtius
Gill, 1861
Species:
R. hippoglossoides
Binomial name
Reinhardtius hippoglossoides
(Walbaum, 1792)
Synonyms[2]
  • Pleuronectes hippoglossoides Walbaum, 1792
  • Pleuronectes pinguis O. Fabricius, 1824
  • Hippoglossus groenlandicus Günther, 1862
  • Reinhardtius matsuurae Jordan & Snyder, 1901

The Greenland halibut or Greenland turbot (Reinhardtius hippoglossoides) belongs to the family Pleuronectidae (the right-eye flounders), and is the only species of the genus Reinhardtius. It is a predatory fish that mostly ranges at depths between 500 and 1,000 m (1,600–3,300 ft), and is found in the cold northern Atlantic, northern Pacific, and Arctic Oceans.[2]

It has a variety of other English vernacular names, including black halibut, blue halibut, lesser halibut, and Newfoundland turbot;[3] while both Newfoundland turbot and Greenland turbot are in common use in North America (sometimes even without the location, just "turbot"), these names are typically not used in Europe, where they can cause easy confusion with the true turbot (Scophthalmus maximus).[4]

The Greenland halibut is fished commercially across its range with disputes over the fishing rights for this species in the Atlantic Ocean off Canada resulting in the Turbot War of the mid-1990s (a "war" without any injuries or casualties).[5]

The Greenland halibut is a flatfish, and the left eye has migrated during the fish's development so that it is on the right side of the head. However, in this fish, it has not moved as far as in bottom-dwelling flatfish and the fish can probably see forwards. The Greenland halibut can swim in a vertical position and both sides of its body are a speckled brown colour, but the left side is rather paler than the right.

The Hellefisk Fjord in Greenland is named after this fish, hellefisk being the Danish name for Greenland halibut.

  1. ^ Munroe, T.; Costa, M.; Nielsen, J.; Herrera, J. & de Sola, L. (2015). "Reinhardtius hippoglossoides". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 2015: e.T18227054A45790364. Retrieved 26 March 2018.
  2. ^ a b Froese, Rainer; Pauly, Daniel (eds.). "Reinhardtius hippoglossoides". FishBase. February 2018 version.
  3. ^ Cite error: The named reference FAO was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  4. ^ Dyck, M.; P. H. Warkentin; M. A. Treble (2007). "A Bibliography on Greenland Halibut, Reinhardtius Hippoglossoides (a.k.a. Greenland Turbot) 1936-2005" (PDF). Canadian Technical Report of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences 2683. Fisheries and Oceans Canada.
  5. ^ Stephens, T. (2009). International Courts and Environmental Protection. Cambridge University Press. pp. 212–214. ISBN 978-0-521-88122-7.