First record of hagfish (Cyclostomata: Myxinidae) in Indian waters

Abstract

One specimen of hag fish Eptatretus sp. was collected from the Arabian Sea, off Kerala coast of India at 500-600 m depth. The phylogenetic analysis using the sequence of mitochondrial gene cytochrome oxidase C (CO1) suggested the Eptatretus sp. collected from India is distinct from all other species where sequence data is available and P ID (Liberal) for Eptatretus sp. collected from India is 0.96, indicating a high probability that an unknown member of the putative species would be correctly identified as a member once more specimens are collected.

Keywords

• eptatretus sp.
• hagfish
• kerala
• phylogeny.