📸 PhotoPhoto: Vsevolod Rudyi · CC BY 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons Source
Atlantic halibut
Hippoglossus hippoglossus (Atlantic halibut · Atlantic halibut)
💡 Everyday Comparisons for Size, Mass & Speed
- 💡 Its maximum weight of 320 kg is equal to sixteen 20 kg bags of rice (Comparison).
- 💡 Its maximum total length of 4.7 m is longer than a passenger car (about 4.5 m) (Comparison).
- 💡 It is sold fresh, dried, salted, smoked, or frozen, and used in many steamed, broiled, and fried dishes (FishBase).
Reference standards: coach bus ~12 m, mid-size car ~4.9 m, compact car ~1 t, basketball hoop 3.05 m, credit card 8.56 cm.
Site-computed relative index from recorded values; not a formal scientific metric.
📖 1. Overview
The Atlantic halibut is the world's largest flatfish, living on the cold seafloors of the North Atlantic. Because it is long-lived and matures late, it is vulnerable to overfishing and was assessed as Near Threatened (NT) by the IUCN in 2022.
🦴 2. Anatomy & Morphology
Even among right-eyed flatfishes with both eyes on the right side, it is exceptionally large, with a concave caudal fin, a large wide-opening mouth, and an arched lateral line. The largest recorded specimen weighed 615 pounds (dressed weight), caught off Cape Ann in the United States.
🔍 3. Ecology & Behavior
It feeds mainly on fishes such as cod, haddock, herring, and sand lance, as well as cephalopods and large crustaceans. It grows slowly and lives up to 50 years.
🇰🇷 4. Connection to Korea
No direct record connecting this species to Korea has been found.
📚 Sources & References
- • IUCN Red List NT (2022) — https://www.iucnredlist.org/species/10097/148035632
- • IUCN Red List category NT — latest assessment at iucnredlist.org
- • catalogueoflife.org — 3M25Y
- • iucnredlist.org — 148035632
- • wikidata.org — Q1143520
- • commons.wikimedia.org — File:Hippoglossus hippoglossus 196509307.jpg
- • fishbase.se — Hippoglossus-hippoglossus.html
- • fisheries.noaa.gov — atlantic-halibut
- • Silhouette: PhyloPic — author not recorded · CC0 1.0 (Related taxon silhouette — Hippoglossoides elassodon)
Recorded dimensions are widely cited representative estimates from public literature and may vary by study or specimen.