The white-headed hagfish (Myxine ios) is a species of jawless fish of the family Myxinidae (hagfish).[2][3][4]
Its scientific name alludes to the Institute of Oceanographic Sciences (IOS), Wormley, Surrey, which supplied the holotype.[5]
Myxine ios is a marine bathydemersal fish,[6] living at depths of 614–1,625 m (2,014–5,331 ft). It is non-migratory, living in the North Atlantic waters off Iceland, Ireland and the western Sahara.[7][8]
The white-headed hagfish may grow up to 57 centimetres (1.87 ft) long.[5] It is a seven-gilled hagfish; it can be distinguished from related species by its large number of tooth cusps: between 44 and 51.[9] The Irish M. ios population is distinguished from the southern variety by its white head and whitish middorsal or midventral line.[10]
M. ios is a scavenger of dead or disabled fish, which it bores into. Its eggs are large, 2–3 centimetres (0.79–1.18 in).[11]
The white-headed hagfish (Myxine ios) is a species of jawless fish of the family Myxinidae (hagfish).
Its scientific name alludes to the Institute of Oceanographic Sciences (IOS), Wormley, Surrey, which supplied the holotype.
