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.

Kingdom Animalia
Phylum Chordata
Subphylum Vertebrata
Superclass Gnathostomata
Class Osteichthyes
Order Pleuronectiformes
Suborder Pleuronectoidei
Family Pleuronectidae
Genus Hippoglossus
Species Hippoglossus hippoglossus

Status in World Register of Marine Species

Accepted name: Hippoglossus hippoglossus (Linnaeus, 1758)

Scientific synonyms and common names

Hippoglossus hippoglossus Linnaeus, 1758

Synonyms:

Pleuronectes hippoglossus Linnaeus, 1758, Syst. Nat., ed. X: 269 ('Habitat in Oceano Europaeo').
Hippoglossus vulgaris Fleming, 1828, Hist. Brit. Anim.: 199 (England).
Hippoglossus maximus Gottsche, 1835, Arch. Naturg., 2: 164 (Denmark).
Hippoglossus gigas Swainson, 1839, Nat. Hist. Fish...., 2: 302.
Hippoglossus hippoglossus: Norman, 1934: 291-292, fig. 217 (additional synonyms and references) Joensen & Tåning, 1970: 185.


Common names:

alabote [Pr]
fletan [Es]
flétan [Fr]
halibut [En]
halibut [En]
hälleflundra [Sv]
Heilbutt [De]
helleflynder [Da]
kveite [No]
paltus [Ru]
heilbot [Ne]

Ehrenbaum, E. 1905-1909. Eier und Larven von Fischen der Nordischen Planktons, Teil I, 1905, 4: iv + I 1-I 216 + iii, fig. 1-82; Teil II, 1909, 10: I 217-I 413, fig. 83-147.

Fleming, J. 1828. A history of British animals exhibiting the descriptive characters and systematical arrangements of the genera and species of quadrupeds, birds, reptiles, fishes, mollusca and radiata of the U.K.; including the indigenous, extirpated and extinct kinds, together with periodical and occasional visitants. EdinburgLondon, xxiii + 565 pp. (2nd ed., 1842, same pag.).

Gottsche, C. M. 1835. Die seeländischen Pleuronectes-Arten. Arch. Naturgesch., 2: 133-185.

Joensen, J. S.; Tåning, Å. V. 1970. Marine and Freshwater Fishes in Zoology of the Faroes, Copenhagen, 3 (62-63): 1-241.

Koefoed, E. 1907. Poissons: 485-499, pl. LXXVII. In: Duc d'Orléans, Croisière océanographique accomplie à bord de la Belgica dans la Mer du Grönland, 1905. Bruxelles, 1907.

Linnaeus, C. 1758. Systema Naturae, ed. X, vol. 1, 824 pp. Nantes & Pisces: pp. 230-338. (Reprint, 1956, London.)

Norman, J. R. 1934. A systematic monograph of the flatfishes (Heterosomata). Vol. 1. London, 459 pp.

Schmidt, W. 1968. Vergleichend morphologische Studie über die Otolithen mariner Knochenfische. Arch. FischWiss., 19 (1): pp. 1-96, 184 fig., 25 pl.

Swainson, W. 1838-1839. On the natural history and classification of fishes, amphibians and reptiles or monocardian animals, London, 2 vol., 1, 1838, 368 pp., 100 fig.; 2, 1839, 448 pp., 135 fig.

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