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Myxini (hagfishes) > Myxiniformes (Hagfishes) > Myxinidae (Hagfishes) > Eptatretinae
Etymology: Eptatretus: hepta (Gr.), seven; tretos (Gr.), perforated (i.e., with holes), referring to seven gill apertures on what would later be described as Homea banksii (=E. cirrhatus) [range within genus is 6-14 pairs of gill apertures] (See ETYFish); wisneri: In honor of American ichthyologist Robert L. Wisner (1921-2005), Scripps Institution of Oceanography, for his contributions to hagfish biology (See ETYFish).
Eponymy: Robert ‘Bob’ Lester Wisner (1912–2005) was an American ichthyologist. [...] (Ref. 128868), visit book page.

Environment: milieu / climate zone / depth range / distribution range Ecology

Marine; bathydemersal; non-migratory; depth range 330 - 412 m (Ref. 51420). Deep-water

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Northwest Pacific: southeast of Taiwan.

Size / Weight / Age

Maturity: L_m ? range ? - ? cm
Max length : 33.5 cm TL male/unsexed; (Ref. 31276)

Short description Identification keys | Morphology | Morphometrics

Brachial length 4.58% of total length; six pairs of gill pouches and gill apertures, gill apertures closely spaced in straight line; external opening of pharyngocutaneous duct (PCD) confluent with the most posterior left gill aperture (51 of 59 specimens examined), and much larger than other apertures; fused unicuspid teeth; eye spots present but not clear (Ref. 31545).

Life cycle and mating behavior Maturity | Reproduction | Spawning | Eggs | Fecundity | Larvae

Copulatory organ absent. The gonads of hagfishes are situated in the peritoneal cavity. The ovary is found in the anterior portion of the gonad, and the testis is found in the posterior part. The animal becomes female if the cranial part of the gonad develops or male if the caudal part undergoes differentiation. If none develops, then the animal becomes sterile. If both anterior and posterior parts develop, then the animal becomes a functional hermaphrodite. However, hermaphroditism being characterised as functional needs to be validated by more reproduction studies (Ref. 51361 ).

Main reference Upload your references | References | Coordinator | Collaborators

Fernholm, B., 1998. Hagfish systematics. p. 33-44. In J.M. Jørgensen, J.P. Lomholt, R.E. Weber and H. Malte (eds.) The biology of hagfishes. Chapman & Hall, London. 578 p. (Ref. 31276)

IUCN Red List Status (Ref. 130435: Version 2024-1)

Least Concern (LC) ; Date assessed: 13 November 2009

CITES

Not Evaluated

CMS (Ref. 116361)

Not Evaluated

Threat to humans

Harmless

Human uses

Fisheries: of no interest

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Estimates based on models

Phylogenetic diversity index (Ref. 82804): PD₅₀ = 0.5000 [Uniqueness, from 0.5 = low to 2.0 = high].

Bayesian length-weight: a=0.00204 (0.00094 - 0.00444), b=2.93 (2.74 - 3.12), in cm total length, based on LWR estimates for this (Sub)family-body shape (Ref. 93245).

Trophic level (Ref. 69278): 4.0 ±0.7 se; based on size and trophs of closest relatives

Resilience (Ref. 120179): Low, minimum population doubling time 4.5 - 14 years (Fec assumed to be <100).

Fishing Vulnerability (Ref. 59153): Low vulnerability (24 of 100).

Eptatretus wisneri (Kuo, Huang & Mok, 1994)