Greenland halibut

Open encyclopedia reference

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. It has a variety of other English vernacular names, including black halibut, blue halibut, lesser halibut, and Newfoundland turbot; 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). 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).

Wikipedia contributors, Greenland halibut; see linked history · CC BY-SA 4.0 . Plain-text lead excerpt, at most 180 words; no infobox or later sections Retrieved 2026-10-05T06:39:07.542005+00:00. This reference remains separate from the taxonomic record.

Identity & source status

Scientific name

Reinhardtius hippoglossoides (Walbaum, 1792)

Name authority

(Walbaum, 1792)

Common name

Greenland halibut

Rank

species

Accepted status

accepted

Kingdom

Animalia

Phylum

Chordata

Class

Teleostei

Order

Pleuronectiformes

Family

Pleuronectidae

Genus

Reinhardtius

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. genusReinhardtius Gill, 1861
15. speciesReinhardtius hippoglossoides (Walbaum, 1792)

Close classified relatives

No other member of this genus is present in the selected snapshot.

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=127144 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:4RQRM. Classification follows source parent identifiers. English common names may vary by region.