Friday, November 04, 2011

Hag Fish - Myxine glutinosa



The scientific name for hag fish is Myxine glutinosa and it belongs to the family Myxini. The Atlantic hagfish is a deep-water fish, which are almost blind, but have well developed senses of touch and smell.

Myxine (Hag Fish) are generally about 18 inches long with no eyes, have long eel like bodies and tails and the color of the fish range from pink to blue containing black or white spots on their body. This species don’t have any fins or jaw, but instead they have six barbs around the mouth area as well as along on a single nostril.

Hagfish contains 3 accessory hearts with no cerebrum and cerebellum, even no jaws and stomach too and it’s closely related to some primitive creatures such as the lampreys. Myxine easily escape from the predatory fish. Hagfish can be seen in every ocean except in North Atlantic and usually live in cold water.

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