Culture of Atlantic halibut (Hippoglossus hippoglossus) and Pacific halibut (Hippoglossus stenolepis)

Interest in the culture of Atlantic and Pacific (Hippoglossus hippoglossus and H. stenolepis) halibut developed in the 1980s. In general, information collected with respect to the culture requirements of one halibut species is applicable to the other. Maintenance of captive broodstock in circular culture tanks of sufficient size can be accomplished without difficulty. Broodfish can be induced to develop and spawn with or without the use of hormones. Various devices for incubating eggs have been developed and tested, with slow upwelling systems being among the most successful. Eggs are fragile and can be protected to some degree by incubating them at their salinity of neutral buoyancy. A major bottleneck to successful routine culture of the two species is in the area of larval development. The larvae are weak swimmers, extremely fragile, and slow to develop to the size of first‐feeding. Larvae that will accept feed require several additional weeks before they metamorphose into juveniles. The environmental requirements of halibut larvae have been determined, in part. Of the two species, more progress toward commercial culture has been made with Atlantic than Pacific halibut.