Turbot
(Scophthalmus maximus)
Image source: Jo's Animal Database
General data
The turbot (Scophthalmus maximus) is a relatively large species of flatfish in the family Scophthalmidae. It is a demersal fish native to marine or brackish waters of the Northeast Atlantic, Baltic Sea and the Mediterranean Sea. It is an important food fish.
Turbot in the Black Sea have often been included in this species, but are now generally regarded as separate, the Black Sea turbot or kalkan (S. maeoticus). True turbot are not found in the Northwest Atlantic; the turbot of that region, which was involved in the so-called Turbot War between Canada and Spain, is the Greenland halibut or Greenland turbot (Reinhardtius hippoglossoides).
The turbot is a large left eyed flatfish found primarily close to shore in sandy shallow waters throughout the Mediterranean, the Baltic Sea, the Black Sea, and the North Atlantic. The European turbot has an asymmetric disk-shaped body, and has been known to grow up to one metre (40 inches) long and 25 kilograms (55 pounds) in weight.
