Hagfish
Related Category: Vertebrate Zoology
primitive marine fish of the order Cyclostomata, or jawless fishes (see cyclostome), of worldwide distribution in cold and temperate waters.
A hagfish is a marine chordate of the class Myxini, also known as Hyperotreti. Despite their name, there is some debate about whether they are strictly fish, since they belong to a much more primitive lineage than any other fish group.
Hagfish
This article is about the hagfish. For the Punk Rock band, see Hagfish (band).
Hagfishes have hardened cartilage instead of bones. Lacking jaws, these scavengers use their rasping teeth to attach to and feed on their prey. Their prey is mostly dead fish and marine mammals (although they are known to feed on small invertebrates).
Hagfish can be found in the chilly waters of the antitropical north and south.
They tend to live on and in muddy sea floors in very dense groups (up to 15,000 in an area).
Craniate: Hagfish
Craniates, one of the three sub-divisions of chordates, have distinct skulls. Michael J. Benton comments that "craniates are characterized by their heads, just as chordates, or possibly all deuterostomes, are by their tails." [4] ...
Atlantic Hagfish Myxine limosa (Myxine glutinosa)
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A Broadgilled Hagfish caught off Coffs Harbour
A Broadnose Shark caught off Coaldale Beach
A Brokenline Wrasse at North Solitary Island
A Brokenline Wrasse at Port Stephens
A Brown Sabretooth Blenny at North West Solitary Island ...
net 8/2/2001 Jeffreys Ledge Yesterday at about 7:45 am Davis Finch and I boarded the Gulf Challenger research vessel at the Portsmouth fish pier, joining the UNH research team in their continued quest for hagfish at Jeffries Ledge.
Eptatretus stoutii, Hagfish
Etelis Oculatus, Queen Snapper
Etelis coruscans, Flame Snapper
Eucleoteuthis luminosa, Striped Squid
Euprymna berryi, Berry's Bobtail Squid
Euprymna morsei, Mimika Bobtail Squid
Euprymna scolopes , Hawaiian Bobtail Squid ...
This group includes: Agnatha - lampreys and hagfish, Chondrichthyes - sharks, skates and rays, and Osteichthyes - all other fish.
Alligator Gar (Atractosteus spatula)
American Eel (Anguilla rostrata)
Atlantic Croaker (Micropogonias undulatus) ...
In all craniates except for hagfish, the dorsal hollow nerve cord is surrounded with cartilaginous or bony vertebrae and the notochord is generally reduced; hence, hagfish are not regarded as vertebrates.
The three main groups are: the jawless fish, including lamprey and hagfish; the cartilaginous fish (with a skeleton made of cartilage rather than bone), including sharks and rays; and the largest grouping -- the bony fish, including sturgeon, perch, ...
There are many fish found in Antarctic waters, such as Antarctic cod, ice fish, crocodile fish, dragon fish, robber fish, rat-tailed fish, hagfish, and skates.
Mammals ...
Indeed, the five living classes of fish, which includes hagfish, lampreys, cartilaginous fish (sharks and rays), lobe-finned fish (coelacanths and lungfish) and bony fish, are only distantly related to each other.
There are around 970 species of shark, ray and chimera — animals whose skeletons are made of light, flexible cartilage instead of bone. Lampreys and hagfish, which account for about 108 species, are so primitive they may not be fish at all, ...
 See also: Shark, Lamprey, Whale, Cod, Eel
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