📸 PhotoPhoto: Charles Keith · Public domain · Wikimedia Commons Source
Atlantic hagfish
Myxine glutinosa (Atlantic hagfish · Atlantic hagfish)
💡 Everyday Comparisons for Size, Mass & Speed
- 💡 Its maximum total length of 95 cm is 5 cm shorter than a 1 m ruler (Comparison).
- 💡 The size of a single egg, 20–25 mm, is slightly smaller than the diameter of a Korean 500-won coin (about 26.5 mm) (Comparison).
- 💡 It defends itself with the slime it produces when threatened (FishBase).
Reference standards: coach bus ~12 m, mid-size car ~4.9 m, compact car ~1 t, basketball hoop 3.05 m, credit card 8.56 cm.
📖 1. Overview
The Atlantic hagfish is a member of the hagfishes, a primitive group of jawless fish, living in muddy bottoms of the deep, cold North Atlantic. It is the only hagfish found in the Northeast Atlantic.
🦴 2. Anatomy & Morphology
Its body is slender and elongated, and when threatened it secretes slime to defend itself. Its eggs are few in number (19–30) and relatively large at 20–25 mm, with a cluster of anchor-tipped filaments at each end of the tough shell.
🔍 3. Ecology & Behavior
It is mainly nocturnal and hides burrowed in mud. It bores into the bodies of dead or dying fish to eat their internal organs and flesh.
🇰🇷 4. Connection to Korea
No direct record connecting this species to Korea has been found.
📚 Sources & References
- • IUCN Red List LC (2011) — https://www.iucnredlist.org/species/196057/8988080
- • IUCN Red List category LC — latest assessment at iucnredlist.org
- • catalogueoflife.org — 45H8K
- • iucnredlist.org — 8988080
- • wikidata.org — Q780327
- • commons.wikimedia.org — File:Atlantic Hagfish (Myxine glutinosa).jpg
- • fishbase.se — Myxine-glutinosa.html
- • Silhouette: PhyloPic — author not recorded · CC0 1.0
Recorded dimensions are widely cited representative estimates from public literature and may vary by study or specimen.