| White-headed hagfish | |
|---|---|
| Conservation status | |
 Least Concern (IUCN 3.1) | |
Scientific classification 
| |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Myxini |
| Order: | Myxiniformes |
| Family: | Myxinidae |
| Genus: | Myxine |
| Species: | M. ios |
| Binomial name | |
| Myxine ios Fernholm, 1981 | |
The white-headed hagfish (Myxine ios) is a species of jawless fish of the family Myxinidae (hagfish).
Its scientific name alludes to the Institute of Oceanographic Sciences (IOS), Wormley, Surrey, which supplied the holotype.
Distribution
Myxine ios is a marine bathydemersal fish, living at depths of 614–1,625 m (2,014–5,331 ft). It is non-migratory, living in the North Atlantic waters off Iceland, Ireland and the western Sahara.
Description
The white-headed hagfish may grow up to 57 centimetres (1.87 ft) long. It is a seven-gilled hagfish; it can be distinguished from related species by its large number of tooth cusps: between 44 and 51. The Irish M. ios population is distinguished from the southern variety by its white head and whitish middorsal or midventral line.
Behaviour
M. ios is a scavenger of dead or disabled fish, which it bores into. Its eggs are large, 2–3 centimetres (0.79–1.18 in).
References
- "IUCN Red List of Threatened Species".
- "WoRMS - World Register of Marine Species - Myxine ios Fernholm, 1981". www.marinespecies.org.
- Watkins, Michael; Beolens, Bo (January 30, 2015). Sharks: An Eponym Dictionary. Pelagic Publishing Ltd. ISBN 9781784270377 – via Google Books.
- Check-list of the Fishes of the Eastern Tropical Atlantic: Clofeta. Junta Nacional de Investigação Cientifica e Tecnológica. June 19, 1990. ISBN 9789230026202 – via Google Books.
- ^ "Myxine ios, White-headed hagfish". www.fishbase.se.
- Ramos, Ana; Ramil, Fran; Sanz, José Luis (September 25, 2017). Deep-Sea Ecosystems Off Mauritania: Research of Marine Biodiversity and Habitats in the Northwest African Margin. Springer. ISBN 9789402410235 – via Google Books.
- Heessen, Henk J. L.; Daan, Niels; Ellis, Jim R. (September 1, 2015). Fish atlas of the Celtic Sea, North Sea, and Baltic Sea: Based on international research-vessel surveys. Wageningen Academic Publishers. ISBN 9789086868780 – via Google Books.
- Priede, I. G. (August 10, 2017). Deep-Sea Fishes: Biology, Diversity, Ecology and Fisheries. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 9781107083820 – via Google Books.
- Berkovitz, Barry K. B.; Shellis, R. Peter (October 14, 2016). The Teeth of Non-Mammalian Vertebrates. Academic Press. ISBN 9780128028841 – via Google Books.
- Fernholm, B. (July 19, 1981). "A new species of hagfish of the genus Myxine, with notes on other eastern Atlantic myxinids". Journal of Fish Biology. 19 (1): 73–82. doi:10.1111/j.1095-8649.1981.tb05812.x.
- "Myxine ios | NBN Atlas". species.nbnatlas.org.