Identification
The Greenland halibut is a large flatfish to 120 cm with a dark brown to grey-black upper side. Unlike the Atlantic halibut, the blind side is also darkly colored rather than white. Both eyes are on the right side, but the upper eye sits remarkably high on the head ridge. The body is more elongated than most flatfish.
Ecology
Lives on deep, cold bottoms at 200 to 1,600 meters in Arctic and subarctic waters. An active hunter that, unlike most flatfish, also hunts in open water for fish, shrimp, and squid. Slow-growing and long-lived — up to 30 years.
In the Netherlands
Does not occur in the shallow, relatively warm North Sea. Found in the deep Norwegian Sea, Icelandic waters, and the North Atlantic. Known in the Netherlands only as imported frozen fish from Norwegian fisheries.
