A halibut is a type of flatfish from the family of the right-eye flounders (Pleuronectidae). This name is derived from haly (holy) and butt (flat fish), alleged to be called so from being commonly eaten on holy-days.[1] Halibut live in both the North Pacific and the North Atlantic oceans and are highly regarded food fish. The Halibut is the largest of all flat fish, with an average weight of about 25 - 30 lb (11 - 13½ kg), but they can grow to be as much as 600 lbs (272kg) [1]. The Halibut is blackish-grey on the top side and off-white on the underbelly side. When the Halibut is born the eyes are on both sides of its head so it has to swim like a salmon. After about 6 months one eye will migrate to the other side of its head, making it look more like the flounder. This happens at the same time that the stationary eyed side begins to develop a blackish-grey pigment while the other side remains white. This disguises a halibut from above (blending with the ocean floor) and from below (blending into the light from the sky).

Halibut feed on almost any animal they can fit in their mouths. Animals found in their stomachs include sand lance, octopus, crab, salmon, hermit crabs, lamprey, sculpin, cod, pollock, herring and flounder. Halibut can be found at depths as shallow as a few meters to hundreds of meters deep, and although they spend most of their time near the bottom, halibut will move up in the water column to feed. In most ecosystems the halibut is near the top of the marine food chain. In the North Pacific the only common predators of halibut are the sea lion (Eumetopias jubatus), the orca whale (Orcinus orca), and the salmon shark (Lamna ditropis).