Broadgilled Hagfish Identification Guide

Key identification features

• One of the larger hagfish species, with some individuals approaching a meter in length
• Stout, scaleless, eel-like body in pale pinkish-grey tones
• Blind head bearing only light-sensitive skin patches instead of true eyes
• Notably high gill pore count, up to around 14 pairs along the throat, the trait behind its common name
• Prominent barbels ringing the single nostril and slit-like mouth
• A single line of slime pores running along each flank

Common look-alikes

• Other regional Eptatretus hagfish are generally smaller and show noticeably fewer gill pore pairs, making pore counts the most reliable separator.
• Lampreys share the elongated shape but have true eyes as adults and a round, tooth-lined oral disc rather than a barbel-fringed slit mouth.
• Conger and other deep-water eels can look similar in outline but have jaws, paired fins, and scaled skin.

Where you'll see one

Broadgilled Hagfish live on continental shelf and upper slope waters around New Zealand and southern Australia, resting on muddy seafloor where they scavenge carcasses and burrow partway into soft sediment.