The southern hagfish (''Myxine australis'') is a

hagfish Hagfish, of the Class (biology), class Myxini (also known as Hyperotreti) and Order (biology), order Myxiniformes , are eel-shaped Agnatha, jawless fish (occasionally called slime eels). Hagfish are the only known living Animal, animals that h ...

of the

genus Genus (; : genera ) is a taxonomic rank above species and below family (taxonomy), family as used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In bino ...

Myxine ''Myxine'' is a genus of hagfish, from the Greek μυξῖνος (''myxinos'', "slimy"). It is the type genus of the class Myxini. In 2021, three new species of ''Myxine'' were described from the Galápagos including '' M. phantasma'', the on ...

''.

Description

It is a harmless scaleless, eel-like animal with a pinkish body, a whitish head and a whitish mid dorsal stripe. The size of captured specimens ranges between 91 and 394 mm. The southern hagfish is found in the cold waters of the Southwestern

Atlantic Ocean The Atlantic Ocean is the second largest of the world's five borders of the oceans, oceanic divisions, with an area of about . It covers approximately 17% of Earth#Surface, Earth's surface and about 24% of its water surface area. During the ...

from the coasts off Southwestern Brazil down to the

Southern Ocean The Southern Ocean, also known as the Antarctic Ocean, comprises the southernmost waters of the world ocean, generally taken to be south of 60th parallel south, 60° S latitude and encircling Antarctica. With a size of , it is the seco ...

and the

Tierra del Fuego Tierra del Fuego (, ; Spanish for "Land of Fire", rarely also Fireland in English) is an archipelago off the southernmost tip of the South America, South American mainland, across the Strait of Magellan. The archipelago consists of the main is ...

and the

Patagonia Patagonia () is a geographical region that includes parts of Argentina and Chile at the southern end of South America. The region includes the southern section of the Andes mountain chain with lakes, fjords, temperate rainforests, and glaciers ...

n coasts of Chile and Argentina, including the

Strait of Magellan The Strait of Magellan (), also called the Straits of Magellan, is a navigable sea route in southern Chile separating mainland South America to the north and the Tierra del Fuego archipelago to the south. Considered the most important natura ...

. It lives hidden in the mud in relatively shallow water, between 10 and 100 metres. Its life cycle is unknown. Hagfish have eyes embedded in their head with clear spots. They feed on dead fish on the bottom of the ocean floors, low temperatures, and high pressures.

References

southern hagfish Fauna of Tierra del Fuego Fauna of Temperate South America southern hagfish {{jawless-fish-stub