Description

Diagnosis: 8 pairs of gill pouches and gill openings, strongly mottled with pale brown, dark brown, and white-beige body colour, 3/3 multicusps, and 77–86 total slime pores; distinguished from all other myxinids except Eptatretus gomoni, Eptatretus luzonicus, Eptatretus indrambaryai, Eptatretus okinoseanus, and Eptatretus octatrema by having 8 gill pouches associated with 8 branchial openings; differs from those 5 Indo-Pacific species by having 3-cusp multicusps on the posterior row of teeth (versus 2-cusp multicusps). (Ref. 115309).

Common Names

Taxonomic Hierarchy

Kingdom: Animalia

Phylum: Chordata

Class: Myxini

Order: Myxiniformes

Family: Myxinidae

Genus: Eptatretus

Species: Eptatretus poicilus Zintzen & Roberts, 2015

Climate Zone

Biology

From observations of baited videos, this hagfish is much less active feeding on the bait, and is less inclined to produce slime; possible that the colour pattern of this species offers good camouflage in deep-sea reefs or habitats composed of sand patches over hard substrate, which was also abundant in the Three Kings area (Ref. 115309).

Habitat

bathydemersal

Conservation Status

Not Evaluated

Threat to Humans

Harmless