Atlantic halibut large flatfishes, including Pacific halibut, "Hippoglossus stenolepis". Due to its popularity as a food fish, Atlantic halibut has attracted investment in fish farming. As of 2006, five countries - Canada, Norway, the UK, Iceland and Chile - were engaged in some form of Atlantic halibut aquaculture production. In 1996, the IUCN rated it as Endangered and placed it on its Red List. The Atlantic halibut is a US National Marine Fisheries Service Species of Concern, one of those species about which the U.S. Government's National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has some concerns regarding status and threats, but for which insufficient
Demersal fish is pointed downwards; this is beneficial as their food is often below them in the substrate. Those bottom feeders with upward-pointing mouths, such as stargazers, tend to seize swimming prey. Benthic fish, sometimes called groundfish, are denser than water, so they can rest on the sea floor. They either lie-and-wait as ambush predators, maybe covering themselves with sand or otherwise camouflaging themselves, or move actively over the bottom in search for food. Benthic fish which can bury themselves include dragonets, flatfish and stingrays. Flatfish are an order of ray-finned benthic fishes which lie flat on the ocean floor. Examples are