''Hippoglossus'' is a

genus Genus (; : genera ) is a taxonomic rank above species and below family (taxonomy), family as used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In bino ...

of very large

righteye flounder Pleuronectidae, also known as righteye flounders, are a family of flounders. They are called "righteye flounders" because most species lie on the sea bottom on their left sides, with both eyes on their right sides. The Paralichthyidae are the o ...

s. It comprises two species of

halibut Halibut is the common name for three species of flatfish in the family of right-eye flounders. In some regions, and less commonly, other species of large flatfish are also referred to as halibut. The word is derived from ''haly'' (holy) and ...

, with one species native to the northern Atlantic Ocean and the other species native to the northern Pacific Ocean.

Etymology

The word ''hippoglossus'' is derived from the

Greek Greek may refer to: Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor of all kno ...

ἵππος (''hippos''), meaning "horse", and γλῶσσα (''glōssa''), meaning "tongue" - a reference to the shape of the fish.

Species

There are two species in this genus:

References

Pleuronectidae Marine fish genera Taxa named by Georges Cuvier {{Pleuronectiformes-stub