Alaskan Halibut (aka Pacific Halibut)
Availability: Spring, summer, fall.
The Meat
Alaskan halibut is a marquee item, highly sought after in restaurants. These meaty fillets are delicate and flavorful. It is an obsessively well managed fishery and these fish were caught by bottom long line, with little by catch and the stocks are considered to be in excellent shape.
Halibut is one of the finest fish fillets going, and these are different than California halibut - they are thicker and less prone to drying out. Anything that can be done to a slab of fish can be successfully done to a nice piece of halibut.
Prep
Alaskan halibut will always arrive filleted.
Gear and fishery info
Bottom Set Line
#KnowYourFisherman
Our Halibut is caught by Captain Craig F/V Faith, Alaska
Fish Nerdism 101
Although female halibut have been aged to 30 years (males to 23), some reach sexual maturity as young as 1 year old, and all by 3. So this is probably why their populations are able to bounce back from significant fishing pressure.
Health concerns
Enjoy once a week if you’re lucky enough to get it!
Parting Shots
Halibut are voracious predators (and like lingcod they have the teeth to prove it) and although they are designed to hunt from the sandy bottom of the Pacific Ocean, (like other flat fishes) they are often found travelling in the middle of the water column, pursuing schooling fishes like anchovies or sardines.
Recipes
Facts
Scientific Name: Paralichthys californicus
Habitat: benthic species that inhabit sandy bottoms to depths of 183 m. along the Pacific coast, from California to Alaska, though they are more northerly.
Diet: anything that will fit into their gigantic mouths. They are voracious predators.
Size: It typically weighs 20 to 300 pounds.
Range: Northern California to Alaska.