New Zealand Hagfish Identification Guide
Identify this slime-producing jawless scavenger by its barbeled snout, pinkish eel-like body, and lack of eyes or paired fins.
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Key identification features
- Elongated, cylindrical, eel-like body, uniformly pinkish-gray to purplish-brown, with no scales
- Jawless mouth surrounded by four pairs of fleshy barbels (tentacles) used to sense food
- A single nostril at the very tip of the snout instead of paired nostrils
- No visible eyes (only faint light-sensitive skin patches) and no paired pectoral or pelvic fins
- A row of slime pores running along each side of the body, plus a low fin fold along the tail
Common look-alikes
- Lamprey species sharing its range — lampreys have visible eyes and a round sucker-disc mouth ringed with teeth, unlike the barbeled, eyeless mouth of this hagfish
- Other hagfish species found near New Zealand — separated mainly by counts of slime pores and gill openings on a specimen in hand
- Eels — eels show obvious jaws, paired fins, and small embedded scales, none of which this hagfish has
Where you'll see one
It lives on soft mud and sand bottoms of the continental shelf and upper slope around New Zealand, usually well below the reach of snorkelers and divers, scavenging on dead and dying animals on the seafloor.
Frequently asked questions
How do I tell a hagfish from a lamprey?
Look at the head — a hagfish has barbels around its mouth and no visible eyes, while a lamprey has visible eyes and a round, tooth-ringed sucker disc instead of barbels.
What's the easiest single feature to confirm it's a hagfish and not an eel?
The completely scaleless, finless body with a single nostril at the snout tip is unmistakable — eels always show paired fins, jaws, and fine scales.