Pacific halibut Pacific halibut Hippoglossus stenolepis, the Pacific halibut, is a species of righteye flounder. This very large species of flatfish is native to the North Pacific and is fished by commercial fisheries, sport fishers, and subsistence fishers. The Pacific halibut is found on the continental shelf of the North Pacific Ocean and Bering Sea. Fishing for the Pacific halibut is mostly concentrated in the Gulf of Alaska and the Bering Sea, off the west coast of Canada. Small halibut catches are reported in coastal Washington, Oregon, and California. Pacific halibut is broken up into 10 regularity management areas. Halibut are demersal,
Flying fish striking their prey. The oldest known fossil of a flying or gliding fish, "Potanichthys xingyiensis", dates back to the Middle Triassic, 235–242 million years ago. However, this fossil is not related to modern flying fish, which evolved independently about 66 million years ago. The term Exocoetidae is both the scientific name and the general name in Latin for a flying fish. The suffix "-idae", common for indicating a family, follows the root of the Latin word "", a transliteration of the Ancient Greek name . This means literally "sleeping outside", from "outside" and "bed", "resting place", verb root κει- "to