Eptatretus octatrema (Barnard, 1923:439)
Eightgilled hagfish, Eightgill hagfish, Agkief-slymslang (Smith, 1975)
Taxonomy & Nomenclature
Synonym/s: Heptatretus octatrema Barnard, 1923:439 (basionym)
Conservation Status
Globally Rediscovered
Last record: 25 January 1900 (Mincarone & Fernholm, 2010:798; Mincarone, 2011)
Rediscovered on: 8 June 2010 (specimens); 2010 or later (recognition) (both Mincarone, 2017 [by implication])
IUCN RedList status: Critically Endangered
Distribution & Habitat
South Africa; marine ["Southeastern Atlantic, southwestern Indian Ocean: Western Cape east to Mossel Bay" (Fricke et al., 2026)]
Type locality: "Agulhas Bank, 25–40 fathoms" (Barnard, 1923:440) / "Agulhas Bank, South Africa, southeastern Atlantic, depth 25-40 fathoms [46-73 meters]" (Fricke et al., 2026)
Anatomy & Morphology
Biology & Ecology
Hypodigm
Syntypes:
BMNH 1927.12.6.1 [ex SAM 13031] (1) (Mincarone & Fernholm, 2010:798)
SAM 13030 (1) (Fricke et al., 2026)
Media
Above: A photo of the closely related Sixgill hagfish (Eptatretus hexatrema) among other marine life. Photo taken on 23 December 2014 by Peter Southwood (iNaturalist profile). Released under a CC BY-SA 4.0 license. Source: Wikimedia Commons.
References
Original scientific description:
Barnard, Keppel Harcourt. (1923). Diagnoses of new species of marine fishes from South African waters. Annals of the South African Museum 13: 439-444.
Other references:
Adam, H. and Strahan, R. (1963). Systematics and geographical distribution of myxinoids. In: Brodal, A. and Fänge, R. (eds.). The biology of Myxine. Oslo, Norway: Universitetsforlaget, Oslo. 588 pp.
Almeida, A. J. and Biscoito, M. (2019). Chaves para a identificação dos peixes de oceano Atlântico oriental, Mar Mediterrâneo e Mar Negro / Keys to the fishes of the eastern Atlantic Ocean, Mediterranean Sea and Black Sea. Boletim, Museu de Historía Natural do Funchal Suplemento No. 15: 1-195.
Areeprambil Xavier, Treasa Augustina, Sreeram, Miriam Paul, Sukumaran, Sandhya, Sreekumar, Kaippaparambil Manikandan, Jose, Anjaly, Joshi, K. K. and Gopalakrishnan, A. (2022). A new species of six-gilled hagfish (Myxinidae: Eptatretus) from the Lakshadweep Sea. Zootaxa 5162(2): 120-134. https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.5162.2.2
Areeprambil Xavier, Treasa Augustina, Sreeram, Miriam Paul, Sukumaran, Sandhya, Valappil, Akhilesh Kalli, Sreekumar, Kaippaparambil Manikandan and George, Grinson. (2025). A new species of eight-gilled hagfish (Myxinidae: Eptatretus) from the deep waters of the Lakshadweep Sea, India. Journal of Fish Biology 106(6): 1724-1733. https://doi.org/10.1111/jfb.16055
Fernholm, B. (1986). Myxinidae, pp. 35-36. In: Smith, M. M. and Heemstra, P. C. (eds.). Smiths’ Sea Fishes. Johannesburg: Macmillan.
Fernholm, B. (1998). Hagfish systematics, pp. 33-44. In: Jørgensen, J. M., Lomholt, J. P., Weber, R. E. and Malte, H. (eds.). The Biology of Hagfishes. London: Chapman & Hall.
Fricke, Ron, Eschmeyer, William N. and Van der Laan, Richard (eds.). (2026). Eschmeyer's Catalog of Fishes: Genera, Species, References. Electronic version of 7 July 2026. Available at: https://researcharchive.calacademy.org/research/ichthyology/catalog/fishcatmain.asp [Accessed 26 July 2026]
Froese, Rainer and Pauly, Daniel (eds.). (2026). FishBase. World Wide Web electronic publication. Version 02/2026. Available at: https://www.fishbase.org [Accessed 26 July 2026]
George, Ida Elizabeth, Bineesh, K. K., Sharon, E. Agnita, Bhaskar, Ranjana, Hashim, M. and Banerjee, Dhriti. (2025). A new species of eight-gilled hagfish (Myxinidae: Eptatretus) off Kerala, Western Indian Ocean. Species 26(77): e2s1751 [1-8]. https://doi.org/10.54905/disssi.v26i77.e2s1751
Knapp, Landon, Mincarone, Michael M., Harwell, Heather, Polidoro, Beth, Sanciangco, Jonnell and Carpenter, Kent. (2011). Conservation status of the world’s hagfish species and the loss of phylogenetic diversity and ecosystem function. Aquatic Conservation: Marine and Freshwater Ecosystems 21(5): 401-411. https://doi.org/10.1002/aqc.1202
McMillan, Charmion B. (1999). Three new species of hagfish (Myxinidae, Eptatretus) from the Galápagos Islands. Fishery Bulletin 97(1): 110-117.
Mincarone, Michael M. (2011). Eptatretus octatrema. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2011: e.T196038A8996587. https://dx.doi.org/10.2305/IUCN.UK.2011-1.RLTS.T196038A8996587.en. Accessed on 06 March 2023.
Mincarone, Michael M. (2017). Redescription of the hagfishes (Myxinidae: Eptatretus) from southern Africa. Marine Biology Research 13(7): 797-810. https://doi.org/10.1080/17451000.2017.1287924
Mincarone, Michael M. (2022). Family Myxinidae, Hagfishes, pp. 381-383, pl. 1. In: Heemstra, P. C., Heemstra, E., Ebert, D. A., Holleman, W. and Randall, J. E. (eds.). Coastal fishes of the western Indian Ocean. Volume 1. Makhanda, South Africa: South African Institute for Aquatic Biodiversity. i-ii, pp. 1-637, i-v, pls. 1-82.
Mincarone, Michael M. and Fernholm, B. (2010). Review of the Australian hagfishes with description of two new species of Eptatretus (Myxinidae). Journal of Fish Biology 77(4): 779-801.
Mincarone, Michael M. and McCosker, J. E. (2014). Redescription of Eptatretus luzonicus Fernholm et al., 2013, a replacement name for Eptatretus fernholmi McMillam and Wisner, 2004 (Craniata: Myxinidae), based on the discovery of the holotype and additional specimens from the Philippines, pp. 341-349. In: Williams, G. C. and Gosliner, T. M. (eds.). The Coral Triangle: The 2011 Hearst Philippine Biodiversity Expedition. San Francisco: California Academy of Sciences.
Mincarone, Michael M., Mwale, M. and Fernholm, B. (2011). First record and further description of the Cape hagfish Myxine capensis (Myxinidae) off Mozambique, western Indian Ocean. Journal of Fish Biology 79(3): 806-811. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1095-8649.2011.03063.x
Patzner, R. A. (1998). Gonads and reproduction in hagfishes, pp. 378-395. In: Jørgensen, J. M., Lomholt, J. P., Weber, R. E. and Malte, H. (eds.). The Biology of Hagfishes. London: Chapman & Hall.
Smith, M. M. (1975). Common and scientific names of the fishes of Southern Africa. Part 1. Marine fishes. J.L.B. Smith Institute of Ichthyology Special Publication.
Zintzen, V., Roberts, C. D., Shepherd, L., Stewart, A. L., Struthers, C. D., Anderson, M. J., McVeagh, M., Norén, M. and Fernholm, B. (2015). Review and phylogeny of the New Zealand hagfishes (Myxiniformes: Myxinidae), with a description of three new species. Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society 174: 363-393.