Eptatretus cryptus, Cryptic hagfish : fisheries

You can sponsor this page

Eptatretus cryptus Roberts & Stewart, 2015

Cryptic hagfish
Add your observation in Fish Watcher
Native range | All suitable habitat | Point map | Year 2050
This map was computer-generated and has not yet been reviewed.
Eptatretus cryptus   AquaMaps   Data sources: GBIF OBIS
Upload your photos and videos
Google image
Image of Eptatretus cryptus (Cryptic hagfish)
No image available for this species;
drawing shows typical species in Myxinidae.

Classification / Names Common names | Synonyms | Catalog of Fishes(genus, species) | ITIS | CoL | WoRMS | Cloffa

Myxini (hagfishes) > Myxiniformes (Hagfishes) > Myxinidae (Hagfishes) > Eptatretinae
Etymology: Eptatretus: hepta (Gr.), seven; tretos (Gr.), perforated (i.e., with holes), referring to seven gill apertures on what would later be described as Homea banksii (=E. cirrhatus) [range within genus is 6-14 pairs of gill apertures]. (See ETYFish);  cryptus: From kryptos (Gr.), hidden or secret, referring to its similar morphology to E. cirrhatus, with which it has been confused in the past. (See ETYFish).

Environment: milieu / climate zone / depth range / distribution range Ecology

Marine; bathydemersal; depth range 96 - 922 m (Ref. 115309). Deep-water

Distribution Countries | FAO areas | Ecosystems | Occurrences | Point map | Introductions | Faunafri

Western Pacific: New Zealand.

Size / Weight / Age

Maturity: Lm ?  range ? - ? cm
Max length : 93.1 cm TL male/unsexed; (Ref. 115309)

Short description Morphology | Morphometrics

Dorsal spines (total): 0; Dorsal soft rays (total): 0; Anal spines: 0; Anal soft rays: 0. Diagnosis: characterized by the combination of the following characters: 7 pairs of gill pouches, 3/3 multicusps, 12–15 prebranchial slime pores (modally 14), 78–86 total slime pores, slime pores without narrow white rim, preocular length 4.8–5.8% TL, and body colour brown to dark brown; differs from all other congeners except E. caribbeaus, E. menezesi, E. strahani, E. cirrhatus, and E. goliath by having 7 pairs of gill pouches and 3/3 multicusps; Eptatretus caribbeaus, E. menezesi, and E. strahani are not found in New Zealand; differs from E. caribbeaus by the number of anterior unicusps (10–11 versus 11–13), posterior unicusps (8–10 versus 10–11), and body colour (brown to dark brown versus light tan); differs from E. menezesi by the tail slime pores (11–14 versus 14–18), total slime pores (78–86 versus 86–94), and ventral finfold colour (brown versus whitish margin); it differs from E. strahani by having visible (versus absent) eyespots, rounded (versus slit-like) 1st few branchial apertures, vestigial (versus welldeveloped) ventral finfold (0.17–0.64%TL versus 1.12–1.16%TL), rounded (versus angled) ventral caudal fin profile, and shallower tail depth (8.1–10.6%TL versus 10.9–12.7%TL); differentiation from E. cirrhatus by the prebranchial slime pores (12–15, modally 14 versus 15– 18, modally 16), its more robust appearance (body depth 8.9–12.0% TL versus 5.9–11.2% TL, often <8.6% TL), and body colour (brown to dark brown versus dark brown to purple-brown); some, and often most, slime pores of E. cirrhatus have a narrow white rim, whereas slime pores in E. cryptus sp. nov. are the same colour as the rest of the body; care must be taken not to interpret residual slime or internal structure of the slime pore for the presence of a white rim; Eptatretus cryptus differs from E. goliath by the trunk slime pores (46–54 versus 56–60) and total slime pores (78–86 versus 89–95); the following character can also help in dissociating E. cryptus from E. goliath: preocular length (>4.8 versus 3.7–5.2% TL) and prebranchial length (>20.3 versus 18.3–20.9% TL) (Ref. 115309).

Biology     Glossary (e.g. epibenthic)

This species is more commonly found deeper than 500 m. Its biology is largely unknown because it has been misidentified as the common hagfish E. cirrhatus; its stable carbon and nitrogen isotope signature indicated that this species feeds at a high trophic level, 3 levels above primary producers (Ref. 115309).

Life cycle and mating behavior Maturity | Reproduction | Spawning | Eggs | Fecundity | Larvae

Main reference Upload your references | References | Coordinator | Collaborators

Zintzen, V., C.D. Roberts, L. Shepherd, A.L. Stewart, C.D. Struther, M.J. Anderson, M. McVeagh, M. Noren and B. Fernholm, 2015. Review and phylogeny of the New Zealand hagfishes (Myxiniformes: Myxinidae), with description of three new species. Zool. J. Linnean Soc. 174:363-393. (Ref. 115309)

IUCN Red List Status (Ref. 130435)


CITES

Not Evaluated

CMS (Ref. 116361)

Not Evaluated

Threat to humans

  Harmless





Human uses

Fisheries:
FAO - Publication: search | FishSource |

More information

Countries
FAO areas
Ecosystems
Occurrences
Introductions
Stocks
Ecology
Diet
Food items
Food consumption
Ration
Common names
Synonyms
Metabolism
Predators
Ecotoxicology
Reproduction
Maturity
Spawning
Spawning aggregation
Fecundity
Eggs
Egg development
Age/Size
Growth
Length-weight
Length-length
Length-frequencies
Morphometrics
Morphology
Larvae
Larval dynamics
Recruitment
Abundance
BRUVS
References
Aquaculture
Aquaculture profile
Strains
Genetics
Electrophoreses
Heritability
Diseases
Processing
Nutrients
Mass conversion
Collaborators
Pictures
Stamps, Coins Misc.
Sounds
Ciguatera
Speed
Swim. type
Gill area
Otoliths
Brains
Vision

Tools

Special reports

Download XML

Internet sources

AFORO (otoliths) | Aquatic Commons | BHL | Cloffa | BOLDSystems | Websites from users | Check FishWatcher | CISTI | Catalog of Fishes: genus, species | DiscoverLife | ECOTOX | FAO - Publication: search | Faunafri | Fishipedia | Fishtrace | GenBank: genome, nucleotide | GloBI | Google Books | Google Scholar | Google | IGFA World Record | MitoFish | Otolith Atlas of Taiwan Fishes | PubMed | Reef Life Survey | Socotra Atlas | Tree of Life | Wikipedia: Go, Search | World Records Freshwater Fishing | Zoobank | Zoological Record

Estimates based on models

Phylogenetic diversity index (Ref. 82804):  PD50 = 0.5000   [Uniqueness, from 0.5 = low to 2.0 = high].
Bayesian length-weight: a=0.00204 (0.00092 - 0.00452), b=2.93 (2.73 - 3.13), in cm total length, based on LWR estimates for this (Sub)family-body shape (Ref. 93245).
Trophic level (Ref. 69278):  4.4   ±0.7 se; based on size and trophs of closest relatives
Fishing Vulnerability (Ref. 59153):  High vulnerability (57 of 100).