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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); cheni: In honor of vertebrate zoologist Jianshen (“Johnson”) T. F. Chen (1898-1988), Director, National Taiwan Museum (Taipei), for “important” contributions to the taxonomy of Taiwanese fishes (See ETYFish).
Eponymy: Dr Johnson (Jian-shan) T F Chen (1898–1988) was a Taiwanese vertebrate zoologist who graduated as a teacher in Peking (Beijing) (ca: 1920) and then studied in France and the United Kingdom. [...] (Ref. 128868), visit book page.

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

Marine; bathydemersal; non-migratory; depth range 180 - ? m (Ref. 31276). Deep-water

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Northwest Pacific: southwest of Taiwan (northern South China Sea).

Size / Weight / Age

Maturity: L_m ? range ? - ? cm
Max length : 37.7 cm TL male/unsexed; (Ref. 31276)

Short description Identification keys | Morphology | Morphometrics

5 pairs gill pouches and gill apertures, closely spaced in a straight line; branchial slime pores absent; fused unicuspid teeth 3/3; dental formula: 10 + 3/3 + 10; no whitish mid-dorsal stripe.

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

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 ).

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Fernholm, B., 1998. Hagfish systematics. p. 33-44. In J.M. Jørgensen, J.P. Lomholt, R.E. Weber and H. Malte (eds.) The biology of hagfishes. Chapman & Hall, London. 578 p. (Ref. 31276)

IUCN Red List Status (Ref. 130435: Version 2024-1)

Vulnerable (VU) (B1ab(iii)); Date assessed: 13 November 2009

CITES

Not Evaluated

CMS (Ref. 116361)

Not Evaluated

Threat to humans

Harmless

Human uses

Fisheries: of no interest

FAO - Publication: search | FishSource |

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Estimates based on models

Preferred temperature (Ref. 123201): 2.8 - 6.4, mean 4.2 °C (based on 63 cells).

Phylogenetic diversity index (Ref. 82804): PD₅₀ = 0.5000 [Uniqueness, from 0.5 = low to 2.0 = high].

Bayesian length-weight: a=0.00204 (0.00094 - 0.00444), b=2.93 (2.74 - 3.12), in cm total length, based on LWR estimates for this (Sub)family-body shape (Ref. 93245).

Trophic level (Ref. 69278): 4.1 ±0.7 se; based on size and trophs of closest relatives

Resilience (Ref. 120179): Low, minimum population doubling time 4.5 - 14 years (Fec assumed to be <100).

Fishing Vulnerability (Ref. 59153): Low to moderate vulnerability (28 of 100).

Eptatretus cheni (Shen & Tao, 1975)