Class: Myxini (Hagfishes)

"An ancient and unique lineage of primitive eel-like marine fishes that mostly inhabit deeper temperate seas... They have naked eel-like bodies with 1-16 pairs of external gill openings on each side, no paired fins and no dorsal fin, and the caudal fin extending onto the upper and lower surface. Hagfish have degenerate eyes, a jawless mouth surrounding by barbels and horny rasping teeth on the tongue... They produce enormous amounts of slime to avoid predation.... They also have a single semicircular canal, and a single olfactory canal. They also lack vertebral centra, and rely only a notochord to support the body. They play an important role in recycling organic matter and other nutrients in the ecosystems they inhabit. Hagfishes are scavengers and burrow into dead or dying fishes, invertebrates and marine mammals to feed on their insides. They also prey on small fishes and invertebrates. Hagfishes are captured for food and their skins which are manufactured into leather. In parts of the world, hagfish populations are threatened by over-fishing. Hagfishes have an evolutionary history dating back 300 M yrs. They share a joint ancestor with the entire vertebrate lineage...

Hagfishes have long been thought of as primitive deep-sea scavengers that rasp their way into carcasses and feed from the inside out. However, recent video footage taken off New Zealand shows hagfish preying on other fishes (Zintzen et al. 2011). Hagfishes are renowned for their amazing slime production, and video footage in the same article shows hagfishes avoiding predation by clogging up the mouths and gills of predators. Living species belong to a single family, the Myxinidae, with seven genera and 76 described species in two subfamilies."

Source: Bray, Dianne J. (n.d.). Hagfishes. In: Fishes of Australia. Available at: https://fishesofaustralia.net.au/home/class/5 [Accessed 18 September 2025]

Order: Myxiniformes

Family: Myxinidae

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