Bastard halibut (Paralichthys olivaceus) is a saltwater species recorded in Hong Kong, Taiwan. It is found at depths of 10–200 m. The main season in Hong Kong, Taiwan runs all year.
Scientific name: Paralichthys olivaceus · Water: Saltwater · Season: All year
Size: up to 103 cm
The bastard halibut is a paralichthyid and the most highly prized of the Japanese flounders, which is why it sits in the top price band. Its range is the western Pacific, from Japan, Sakhalin and the Kuril Islands along the Korean Peninsula to the South China Sea. It lives between 10 and 200 m and is available all year. Maximum about 103 cm total length, with a fishing vulnerability of 60 out of 100 and medium population recovery. Sold mainly fresh.
It favours soft muddy ground at 21–24 °C, both offshore and close inshore. Its diet runs to fish spawn, crustaceans, polychaetes and small fish. Spawning takes place in shallow water barely 70 cm deep and runs from January through August; the eggs and larvae drift for 24 to 50 days, after which the body flattens, one eye migrates to the opposite side and the fish settles onto its side with both eyes facing upward — the metamorphosis that makes flatfish the classic study in asymmetry, and the reason its genome and transcriptome were sequenced in 2017. During metamorphosis it moves onto sand and switches to feeding on shrimp, then moves offshore for larger fish as it grows. The heaviest recorded fish weighed 9.1 kg.
Back to home · Hong Kong, Taiwan · Species library