Species group · Hagfish

Hagfishes

WAnimals has 2 species of hagfish, all in the family Myxinidae.

2 species

1 family

18 countries

45 parks

Ranges calculated from the entries that record the figure, not from all 2.

All 2 species of hagfishes on WAnimals

Each one has its own full entry. This group does not replace them: it brings them together.

Hagfish

Myxine glutinosa

Pacific Hagfish

Eptatretus stoutii

1 Least Concern1 Data Deficient

No species documented in this group is genuinely at risk according to the IUCN, with the data available today.

Recorded in 18 countries. The ones with the most species in the group:

Faced with a threat it releases a secretion that, on contact with water, expands within seconds until several litres turn into a dense gel that clogs the attacker's gills; its fibres are being studied for making technical textiles.
From Hagfish
To rid itself of its own slime and to tear off mouthfuls it ties its body in a knot and runs the knot from head to tail.
From Hagfish
It has no jaws and no true vertebrae, though it does have a skull, and its position in the vertebrate tree makes it a key piece in understanding our own origins.
From Hagfish
A single pinch on the tail of a 45 cm adult triggers the production of 0.9 litres of slime, some seven times the animal's own volume. No other material, biological or synthetic, expands so much in so little time.
From Pacific Hagfish
The slime forms in under half a second: coiled threads unwind and the mucus swells, trapping water and clogging the predator's mouth and gills.
From Pacific Hagfish
It has no jaws: it grips the flesh with rasping plates on its tongue and ties its own body into a knot to pull and tear it free.
From Pacific Hagfish