Eptatretus springeri
No common name
Collection Details
Specimens
Photos
There are no photos available for this taxon yet.
Records
Taxonomic Hierarchy
Myxini (Hagfishes)
Myxiniformes (Hagfish)
Myxinidae (Hagfishes)
Eptatretus
Eptatretus springeri
Description
This species account was compiled from
Composite (multiple sources) (Carpenter, K.E. (ed.) 2002. The living marine resources of the Western Central Atlantic. FAO Species Identification Guide for Fishery Purposes. FAO, Rome.)
and processed using AI-assisted text extraction.
It may contain errors in spelling, punctuation, or formatting.
When citing, please reference the original source rather than this page.
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Characters
Body shape: eel-like. Gill apertures 6. Slime pores: prebranchial 16-19; branchial 2-5; trunk 52-57; tail 9-13; total 84-92.
Distribution
W of Florida.
Habitat Associations
Marine. bathydemersal. depth range 400-730 m.
Biology
To 590 mm.
fertilization: external; nonguarders. Copulatory organ absent. The gonads of hagfishes are situated in the peritoneal cavity. The ovary is found in the anterior portion of the gonad, and the testis is found in the posterior part. The animal becomes female if the cranial part of the gonad develops or male if the caudal part undergoes differentiation. If none develops, then the animal becomes sterile. If both anterior and posterior parts develop, then the animal becomes a functional hermaphrodite. However, hermaphroditism being characterised as functional needs to be validated by more reproduction studies (Ref. 51361 ).
IUCN Red List Status: Least Concern (LC), assessed 2009-11-13. Resilience: Low (Fec assumed to be <100).
Commercial or Environmental Importance
Fisheries: of no interest.
References
Fernholm, B. (1998) Hagfish systematics. p. 33-44. In J.M. Jørgensen, J.P. Lomholt, R.E. Weber and H. Malte (eds.) The biology of hagfishes. Chapman & Hall, London. 578 p.
Mok, H.-K., L.M. Saavedra-Diaz and A.P. Acero (2001) Two new species of Eptatretus and Quadratus (Myxinidae, Myxiniformes) from the Caribbean Coast of Colombia. Copeia 2001(4):1026-1033.
Patzner, R.A. (1998) Gonads and reproduction in hagfishes. p. 378-395. In J.M. Jørgensen, J.P. Lomholt, R.E. Weber and H. Malte (eds.) The biology of hagfishes. Chapman & Hall, London. 578 p.
Comments On Eptatretus springeri