| Family: |
Myxinidae (Hagfishes), subfamily: Myxininae |
| Max. size: |
95 cm TL (male/unsexed) |
| Environment: |
bathydemersal; marine; depth range 20 - 1200 m, non-migratory |
| Distribution: |
North Atlantic: Murmansk to the Mediterranean Sea; Greenland to USA. Absent in eastern Mediterranean and Black Sea. Only hagfish in the Northeast Atlantic. |
| Diagnosis: |
Jawless mouth, single nasal aperture, only a single pair of external gill openings, no operculum or covering fold of skin. Grayish or reddish brown above, either plain. Variations in color correspond to the color of the sea bottom. |
| Biology: |
Benthic with reported depths to 782 off Greenland; 960 m in Northwestern Atlantic; and 1,100 m off Norway (Ref. 119696). Found on muddy bottoms where they hide in the mud. Slime is used for defense. Feeds chiefly on dead and dying fish of varying species by boring into the body and consuming viscera and musculature. Chiefly nocturnal. Its eggs are few in number about 19-30 and large (20-25 mm), the horny shell has a cluster of anchor-tipped filaments at each end. |
| IUCN Red List Status: |
Least Concern (LC); Date assessed: 12 November 2009 Ref. (130435)
|
| Threat to humans: |
harmless |
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