Atlantic halibut

Open encyclopedia reference

The Atlantic halibut (Hippoglossus hippoglossus) is a flatfish of the family Pleuronectidae. They are demersal fish living on or near sand, gravel or clay bottoms at depths of between 50 and 2,000 m (200 and 6,600 ft). The halibut is among the largest teleost (bony) fish in the world, and is a threatened species owing to a slow rate of growth and overfishing. Halibut are strong swimmers and are able to migrate long distances. Halibut size is not age-specific, but rather tends to follow a cycle related to halibut (and therefore food) abundance. The native habitat of the Atlantic halibut is the temperate and arctic waters of the northern Atlantic, from Labrador and Greenland to Iceland, the Barents Sea and as far south as the Bay of Biscay and Virginia. It is the largest flatfish in the world, reaching lengths of up to 4.7 m (15 ft) and weights of 320 kg (710 lb). Its lifespan can reach 50 years.

Wikipedia contributors, Atlantic halibut; see linked history · CC BY-SA 4.0 . Plain-text lead excerpt, at most 180 words; no infobox or later sections Retrieved 2026-10-05T05:59:19.068256+00:00. This reference remains separate from the taxonomic record.

Identity & source status

Scientific name

Hippoglossus hippoglossus (Linnaeus, 1758)

Name authority

(Linnaeus, 1758)

Common name

Atlantic halibut

Rank

species

Accepted status

accepted

Kingdom

Animalia

Phylum

Chordata

Class

Teleostei

Order

Pleuronectiformes

Family

Pleuronectidae

Genus

Hippoglossus

Extinction status

Not supplied by this source

Source habitat flags: Marine: yes · Freshwater: no · Terrestrial: no. These do not form a complete habitat description.

Classification family tree

Nested taxonomic groups from the source. This is not a direct-ancestor chain, a dated evolutionary tree or a phylogenetic reconstruction.

1. domainEukaryota (Chatton, 1925) Whittaker & Margulis, 1978
2. kingdomAnimalia
3. phylumChordata
4. subphylumVertebrata
5. infraphylumGnathostomata
6. parvphylumOsteichthyes
7. gigaclassActinopterygii
8. superclassActinopteri
9. classTeleostei
10. orderPleuronectiformes
11. suborderPleuronectoidei
12. familyPleuronectidae Rafinesque, 1815
13. subfamilyPleuronectinae Rafinesque, 1815
14. genusHippoglossus Cuvier, 1816
15. speciesHippoglossus hippoglossus (Linnaeus, 1758)

Close classified relatives

These entries share the source’s genus, Hippoglossus. They are not necessarily the closest relatives established by molecular evidence.

Browse 86 records assigned to Pleuronectidae.

Names & synonyms

Names explicitly linked to this accepted taxon in the source. Synonymy can change with revision.

Source literature & publication evidence

References attached to this source record, including nomenclatural citations where supplied. This is a selected bibliography; abbreviated citations remain in the source’s form.

1. https://www.marinespecies.org/aphia.php?p=taxdetails&id=127138 Source fields: Taxon.tsv dwc:namePublishedIn, Taxon.tsv dcterms:references

Origins, evidence & remaining research

Name authority and publication references document nomenclature where the source supplies it. They do not establish evolutionary origins or the earliest fossil occurrence.

Specimen-level evidence, morphology, ecological research, phylogenetic studies, a comprehensive bibliography and a located literary passage have not yet been compiled for this record. A suitable sourced image remains to be added.

Dataset citation & attribution

This exact taxon in ChecklistBank · Catalogue of Life 2026-09-11

Catalogue of Life 2026-09-11; dataset 316321; doi:10.48580/dgz5n. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ . Retrieved 5 October 2026.

Stable key: col:3M25Y. Classification follows source parent identifiers. English common names may vary by region.