Myxine jespersenae, a New Species of Hagfish (Myxiniformes: Myxinidae) from the North Atlantic Ocean

Abstract

Myxine jespersenae n. sp., described from the North Atlantic Ocean, occurs on the continental slopes off western Greenland and southern Iceland, at depths between 752 and 1556 m. It is diagnosed by a combination of two characters: two paired, pointed, or comb-shaped, bilaterally symmetrical nasal-sinus papillae with 2–5 distal fringes and two cusps fused at their bases in each teeth row. It is further characterized by the following combination of characters: 6 gill pouches; cusps totaling 38– 44; coloration dark grayish brown with a white head, the white extending in a mid-ventral stripe of varying length; body slender (e.g., depth over cloaca 2.9–4.3 %TL); slime pores totalling 107–121. Myxine jespersenae n. sp. replaces the sympatric, but shallower occurring, M. glutinosa Linnaeus, 1758 on the Greenland-Iceland middle continental slope. Myxine glutinosa is here reported from East Greenland waters for the first time.