Myxine glutinosa facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Myxine glutinosa
Conservation status
Least Concern (IUCN 3.1)
Scientific classification
Genus:	Myxine
Species:	glutinosa
Synonyms
Gasterobranchus glutinosus (Linnaeus, 1758) Gastrobranchus coecus Bloch, 1791  ?Myxine glutinosa var. septentrionalis Putnam, 1874 Myxine glutinosa var. limosa Putnam, 1874 Myxine glutinosa var. australis Putnam, 1874 Myzinus glutinosus (Linnaeus, 1758) Petromyzon myxine Walbaum, 1792

The Atlantic hagfish (scientific name: Myxine glutinosa) is a unique ocean creature. It's a type of fish that doesn't have jaws, unlike most fish you know. People in North America call it the Atlantic hagfish, while in Europe, it's often just called a hagfish.

What Does It Look Like?

The Atlantic hagfish can grow up to about .75 metres (2+1⁄2 ft) long. That's about two and a half feet! It has a body shaped like an eel.

Special Features

This fish is quite unusual. It doesn't have eyes, and it also doesn't have jaws. Instead, its mouth looks like a star. Around its mouth are six small feelers called barbels. It has only one gill slit on each side of its body.

The hagfish has 88 to 102 tiny holes, or pores, along its body. From these pores, it can release a very slimy substance called mucus. This mucus helps it in many ways.

Knot-Tying Skills

Hagfish have very flexible bodies. They can tie themselves into knots! They use these knots to:

• Remove the slimy mucus from their bodies.
• Escape from tight spaces.
• Pull food out of burrows.
• Get a better grip on their food, since they don't have jaws to bite.

Similar Ocean Animals

Another fish that is related to the Atlantic hagfish is the Gulf hagfish (Eptatretus springeri). You can find this species in the Gulf of Mexico.

Where Do They Live?

The Atlantic hagfish lives in different parts of the Atlantic Ocean.

• In the eastern Atlantic, you can find them from the western Mediterranean Sea and Portugal all the way to the North Sea, Skagerrak, Kattegat, and the Varanger Fjord.
• In the western Atlantic, they live from Baffin Island, Canada, down to North Carolina.

What Do They Eat?

Hagfish like Myxine glutinosa are scavengers. This means they eat dead animals. They feed on the bodies of fish that have died. They can enter the dead fish through any opening they find.