FERNHOLM and HUBBS: WESTERN ATLANTIC HAGFISHES OF THE GENUS EPTATRETUS 



anatomy is similar: the tongue muscle overlies gill 

 pouches 1-3, and the aorta divides between gill 

 pouches 5 and 6. 



Species B is represented by a five-gilled female 

 having a slender body and narrow head. The skin 

 is light pinkish tan, with the ventral side only 

 slightly lighter; no eyespots are visible. The thin 

 ventral fin fold is white, and extends forward from 

 the cloaca, reaching its maximum height at about 

 the middle of the body, and gradually tapers off 

 toward the posterior part of the branchial region. 

 Several small depressions in the skin, about 0.4 

 mm in diameter, located mostly in the head region, 

 may be traces of ectoparasitic trematodes. Species 

 B differs from E. springeri in internal anatomy, 

 having a tongue muscle overlying only the first 

 gill pouch and an aorta bifurcating between the 

 second and third gill pouch. Eptatretus profundus 

 (Barnard 1923) is the only described species of 

 Eptatretus having five gill apertures. Unfortu- 

 nately, only the holotj^ie is extant. It was mea- 

 sured by Hubbs (figures in parentheses, below) in 

 the South African Museum (no. 13035) and was 

 found not to differ much in length proportions 

 from species B, but it was clearly stouter: body 



width (thousandths of total length), 37 (63); body 

 depth including fin fold, 67 (94); body depth 

 excluding fin fold, 62 (91); body depth over cloaca, 

 48 (68). The South African species yielded a lower 

 total tooth count, 51 (42), but a similar number of 

 slime pores, 81 (84). The difference in tooth count 

 and stoutness indicate that the two specimens 

 probably are not conspecific. 



Eptatretus species C Figure 6, Table 2 



Material.— \5S^M 218400, 1 (380 mm), 13 October 

 1963, Silver Bay station 5146, 19°55.5' N, 72°00' 

 W, depth 860-910 m. 



This six-gilled specimen, from off Haiti, is a 

 female with eggs 2-3 mm long, apparently in quite 

 early stages of development. The pattern of fused 

 cusps, 3/3, and several other characters indicate 

 relationship to E. minor (described below). It dif- 

 fers from that species, however, in having a longer 

 tail, shorter branchial length, greater body depth, 

 slightly higher tooth count, and a lower prebran- 

 chial slime-pore count. It is similar toE. multidens 

 (described below), but differs particularly in hav- 



CM I M ' I M ' I ' 



1 23456789 10 II 



CM 



12 13 14 15 



FIGURE 6.— Eptatretus sp. C (USNM 218400). 



77 



