Turbot
Turbot - Scientific name - Scophthalmus maximus
Conservation status
Assessed as ‘Least Concern’ by the IUCN.
The MCS gives Turbot mixed rating with 2 Best Choice fishing areas and 4 OK - Needs Improvement areas.
The best choice categories include farmed fish area in Europe and Spain where farm feed is assessed and approved by GLOBALG.A.P. certification; and wild fish areas in the North Sea by otter trawls where the ‘spawning stock biomass of turbot is in a healthy state’ and is ‘harvested sustainably’.
Areas where improvements are needed are where bottom trawl (beam) is used. ‘Beam trawls have significant impacts on the seabed, including damage to benthic communities and vulnerable marine habitats. They can also have high bycatch, potentially of vulnerable species’. (MCS)
The Cornwall Wildlife Trust reports ‘Turbot is highly prized and the majority is caught by gill nets set on the seabed (tangle or trammel nets) and trawls. Management is poor as catches are not limited by quota, and better science is needed to assess the sustainability of this species.’
Overview
The Turbot is a large left eyed flatfish, primarily found in sandy shallow waters near the shore of the Mediterranean, Baltic Sea, Black Sea, and North Atlantic. It has an asymmetric, disk-shaped body and can grow up to one metre long and weigh up to 25 kilograms. It is greyish-silver to brown in colour, with a metallic sheen, and is marked with longitudinal dark lines.
Turbot live near the bottom of the sea living on sandy and muddy sea beds in shallow waters up to a depth of approximately 100 metres. These fish are indigenous to the Northeast Atlantic, Baltic Sea, and Mediterranean Sea.
Adult Turbot primarily feed on other low lying fish such as crustaceans, and bivalves. Turbot have a long lifespan, surviving up to around 25 years. Unusually for fish, they do not have scales.
Turbot is highly prized in restaurants particularly for its delicate flavour.
Turbot are also fish farmed in Bulgaria, Canada, France, Spain, Portugal, Romania, Turkey, Chile, Norway, and China.
Sources
Wikipedia - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turbot
Marine Conservation Society - https://www.mcsuk.org/goodfishguide/species/turbot/?search=turbot
IUCN - https://www.iucnredlist.org/species/198731/144939322