name: Greenland Halibut/Turbot

flavor_db_name_variants: greenland halibutturbot

source: foodb

status: draft

food_db_id: Greenland halibut/turbot

id: 370

name_scientific: Reinhardtius hippoglossoides

description: The Greenland halibut or Greenland turbot (Reinhardtius hippoglossoides) belongs to the Pleuronectidae family (the right eye flounders), and is the only species of the genus Reinhardtius. It is a deepwater fish distributed from 200 to 1600 m but has been caught at depths more than 2,200 m . It is mainly found in waters with temperatures from 1-4 °C, but has also observed at sub-zero temperatures down to -2.1 °C. It has a circumpolar distribution and is found in both the Atlantic and the Pacific oceans. Its morphology with the left eye positioned on the dorsal ridge of the forehead gives it an appearance of a cyclops when looking straight at it. The central position of the left eye in the Greenland halibut probably gives it a much wider range of peripheral vision in comparison to other flatfish where the eye has migrated completely. The body shape is elongated and compressed dorsal-ventrally and muscles on both sides are equally developed. Both sides are pigmented; however the left blind side is slightly lighter in color than the right side. Its physical appearance suggests it to be a vigorous swimmer that can swim in a vertical position. Vertical swimming has been observed during tagging experiments. However, video analyzing of Greenland halibut behavior in front of a bottom trawl showed no sign of swimming in a vertical position. Even though most Greenland halibut are caught in bottom fishing gears (trawl, longline and gillnet) they have also been caught in surface drift nets which indicates that they can have a pelagic occurrence. Stomach analysis has also shown that the diet consists mostly of pelagic or bathypelagic organisms. Even though the Greenland halibut is a flatfish it does at times behave more like a roundfish.

itis_id: 172930

wikipedia_id: Greenland halibut

picture_file_name: 375.jpg

picture_content_type: image/jpeg

picture_file_size: 68044

picture_updated_at: 2012-04-20T09:31:59.000Z

legacy_id: 402

food_group: Aquatic foods

food_subgroup: Fishes

food_type: Type 1

created_at: 2011-02-09T00:37:38.000Z

updated_at: 2019-05-14T18:05:23.000Z

creator_id: null

updater_id: null

export_to_afcdb: false

category: specific

ncbi_taxonomy_id: 111784

export_to_foodb: true

public_id: FOOD00370