Saturday's Catch at Clover Passage, Ak...

Two Small Halibut caught by Bill Boyd--Clover Passage, Alaska

75 pound Halibut caught at Clover Passage, Alaska

The halibut is the largest of the flat fish family averaging 24–30 lbs, however catches as large as 730 lbs have been reported.  They are gray-black on the top side with an off-white underbelly and have very small scales invisible to the naked eye making the skin more like leather.  At birth, they have an eye on each side of the head, and swim like a salmon. After six months, one eye migrates to the other side, making them look more like a flounder. At this time the stationary-eyed side darkens to match the top side, while the other side remains white. This color scheme disguises the halibut from above by blending it with the ocean floor and from below by blending it into the light from the sky. 

Halibut feed on almost any animal they can fit into their mouths. Juvenile halibut feed on small crustaceans and other bottom-dwelling organisms.  Halibut live at depths ranging from a few to hundreds of metres, and although they spend most of their time near the bottom, they may move to shallower depths to feed. In most ecosystems, halibut are near the top of the marine food chain.  In the North Pacific, their common predators are the sea lion, the killer whale and the salmon shark.

In my humble opinion, this is one of the tastiest morsels found in our North Pacific waters.

Rock Fish caught at Clover Passage, Alaska