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Myxini (hagfishes) > Myxiniformes (Hagfishes) > Myxinidae (Hagfishes) > Myxininae
Etymology: Myxine: Ancient Greek word for a slimy fish: myxa, slime; -inus, one who, referring to copious amounts of slime produced by M. glutinosa (See ETYFish); circifrons: circi- (L., kirkos in Gr.) round; frons (L.) face or brow, referring to rounded labrum, or lip, between anterior narial barbels (See ETYFish).
More on author: Garman.

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

Marine; bathydemersal; non-migratory; depth range 700 - 1860 m (Ref. 31276). Deep-water

Distribution Countries | FAO areas | Ecosystems | Occurrences | Point map | Introductions | Faunafri

Eastern Pacific: off southern California, USA. Also Peru (Ref. 5530) and Chile (Ref. 27540).

Size / Weight / Age

Maturity: L_m ? range ? - ? cm
Max length : 65.0 cm TL male/unsexed; (Ref. 31276)

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: 12 November 2009

CITES

Not Evaluated

CMS (Ref. 116361)

Not Evaluated

Threat to humans

Harmless

Human uses

Fisheries: of no interest

FAO - Publication: search | FishSource |

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Trophic ecology
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Estimates based on models

Preferred temperature (Ref. 123201): 2.4 - 5, mean 4.1 °C (based on 63 cells).

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

Bayesian length-weight: a=0.00115 (0.00044 - 0.00298), b=3.03 (2.80 - 3.26), in cm total length, based on LWR estimates for this (Sub)family-body shape (Ref. 93245).

Trophic level (Ref. 69278): 3.4 ±0.6 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): Moderate to high vulnerability (46 of 100).

Myxine circifrons Garman, 1899