Myxine glutinosa
| Myxine glutinosa | |
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Scientific classification 
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| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Myxini |
| Order: | Myxiniformes |
| Family: | Myxinidae |
| Genus: | Myxine |
| Species: | M. glutinosa
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| Binomial name | |
| Myxine glutinosa | |
| Synonyms[1][2] | |
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Myxine glutinosa, also known as the Atlantic hagfish, is a type of jawless fish belonging to the class Myxini. .
Description
[edit]The Atlantic hagfish may grow up to .75 metres (2+1⁄2 ft) long, with no eyes and no jaws; its star-shaped mouth is surrounded by 6 mouth barbels.[3] Their eyes also lack a lens and pigment (features found in the eyes of all other living vertebrates[4] . There is a single gill slit on each side of the eel-like body.[3] It has a total of 88–102 pores fro which it can exude a slimy mucus.[5] Hagfish have very flexible bodies which allow them to manipulate themselves into knots. The knots created by the hagfish remove mucus from the body, allow them to escape tight spaces, pull potential prey from burrows, and because they have no opposable jaws it helps create leverage while they eat.[6]
Similar species
[edit]A related species, the Gulf hagfish (Eptatretus springeri), occurs in the Gulf of Mexico.[7]
Distribution
[edit]The distribution of Myxine glutinosa in the eastern Atlantic Ocean extends from the western Mediterranean Sea and Portugal to the North Sea, Skagerrak, Kattegat and the Varanger Fjord.[5] It is also found in the western Atlantic Ocean from Baffin Island, Canada south to North Carolina.[3]
Ecology
[edit]Hagfish such as M. glutinosa feed on the carcasses of fishes, which they bore into through any available opening.[5][3] Hagfish occupy higher trophic levels, typically as prey for fish. When used as bait, Atlantic hagfish prefer fish likely due to rare opportunities to eat fish in the wild, acting as an energy trade off. [8]
References
[edit]- ^ Froese, R.; Pauly, D. (2017). "Myxinidae". FishBase version (02/2017). Retrieved 18 May 2017.
- ^ Van Der Laan, Richard; Eschmeyer, William N.; Fricke, Ronald (11 November 2014). "Family-group names of Recent fishes". Zootaxa. 3882 (1): 1–230. doi:10.11646/zootaxa.3882.1.1. PMID 25543675.
- ^ a b c d Michael Filisky & Roger Tory Peterson (1998). "Atlantic Hagfish". Peterson First Guide to Fishes of North America (2nd ed.). Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. p. 10. ISBN 978-0-395-91179-2.
- ^ Kaj, Holmberg (1971). The hagfish retina: Electron microscopic study comparing receptor and epithelial cells in the Pacific hagfish, Polistotrema Stouti, with those in the Atlantic hagfish, Myxine glutinosa. Ecology of the Hagfish.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: date and year (link) - ^ a b c P. J. P. Whitehead; M.-L. Bauchot; J.-C. Hureau; J. Nielsen; E. Tortonese, eds. (1986) [1984]. "Hagfish (Myxine glutinosa)". Fishes of the NE Atlantic and the Mediterranean.
- ^ Haney, W. A., Clark, A. J., & Uyeno, T. A. (2019). Characterization of body knotting behavior used for escape in a diversity of hagfishes. Journal of Zoology. doi: 10.1111/jzo.12752
- ^ Edwin S. Iversen & Renate H. Skinner (2006). "Atlantic hagfish Myxine glutinosa". Dangerous Sea Life of the West Atlantic, Caribbean, and Gulf of Mexico: A Guide for Accident Prevention and First Aid. Pineapple Press. p. 72. ISBN 978-1-56164-370-7.
- ^ Leigh, Katharine L.; Sparks, Jed P.; Bemis, William E. (2016). "Food Preferences of Atlantic Hagfish, Myxine glutinosa, Assessed by Experimental Baiting of Traps". Copeia. 104 (3): 623–627. ISSN 0045-8511.
Haney, W. A., Clark, A. J., & Uyeno, T. A. (2019). Characterization of body knotting behavior used for escape in a diversity of hagfishes. Journal of Zoology. doi: 10.1111/jzo.12752
External links
[edit]- Hagfish Myxine glutinosa Linnaeus 1758, Fishes of the Gulf of Maine by Henry B. Bigelow and William C. Schroeder