| Description of life cycle and mating behavior |
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 ). However, there was a presumption of 0.1% or even less that this species manifests functional hermaphroditism (Ref. 51416).
This is the only member of the family having a seasonal reproductive cycle (Ref. 51361).
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