Eptatretus strickrotti
Encyclopedia
Eptatretus strickrotti, commonly known as Strickrott's hagfish, is a hagfish
of the genus Eptatretus
, found in the Pacific Ocean
depths south of Easter Island
. The hagfish was found in March 2005 by DSV Alvin
pilot Bruce Strickrott, and a year later was determined by scientists to be a new species. It is the first hagfish recorded from a hydrothermal vent
.
Hagfish
Hagfish, the clade Myxini , are eel-shaped slime-producing marine animals . They are the only living animals that have a skull but not a vertebral column. Along with lampreys, hagfish are jawless and are living fossils whose next nearest relatives include all vertebrates...
of the genus Eptatretus
Eptatretus
Eptatretus is a large genus of hagfish. It has at around 48 described species at present.-Species:* Eptatretus alastairi Mincarone & Fernholm, 2010* Eptatretus ancon...
, found in the Pacific Ocean
Pacific Ocean
The Pacific Ocean is the largest of the Earth's oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic in the north to the Southern Ocean in the south, bounded by Asia and Australia in the west, and the Americas in the east.At 165.2 million square kilometres in area, this largest division of the World...
depths south of Easter Island
Easter Island
Easter Island is a Polynesian island in the southeastern Pacific Ocean, at the southeasternmost point of the Polynesian triangle. A special territory of Chile that was annexed in 1888, Easter Island is famous for its 887 extant monumental statues, called moai, created by the early Rapanui people...
. The hagfish was found in March 2005 by DSV Alvin
DSV Alvin
Alvin is a manned deep-ocean research submersible owned by the United States Navy and operated by the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution in Woods Hole, Massachusetts. The vehicle was built by General Mills' Electronics Group in the same factory used to manufacture breakfast cereal-producing...
pilot Bruce Strickrott, and a year later was determined by scientists to be a new species. It is the first hagfish recorded from a hydrothermal vent
Hydrothermal vent
A hydrothermal vent is a fissure in a planet's surface from which geothermally heated water issues. Hydrothermal vents are commonly found near volcanically active places, areas where tectonic plates are moving apart, ocean basins, and hotspots. Hydrothermal vents exist because the earth is both...
.