Symposium Summary: Ecology and Reproductive Biology of Hagfish

Hagfish belong to one of the most primitive classes of fish in the world, Agnatha. Although there is lots of information on the primitive nature of their physiology and biochemistry, little information exists about their reproductive biology and ecology. Two species along the west coast of North America, Pacific Hagfish (Eptatretus stoutii) and Black Hagfish (Eptatretus deani), are becoming the target of important fisheries. As a result of the decline in hagfish stocks in the West Pacific Ocean, markets are now focusing on acquiring hagfish from the East Pacific Ocean. In order to manage these hagfish stocks sustainably, we need to learn more about hagfish reproductive biology and ecology. The main purpose of this symposium was to summarize current fisheries and draw comparisons in life histories across populations and species. Hagfish scientists were able to compare the pros and cons for methods used for sexing hagfish and determining their maturity, and address the current policies used in hagfish fisheries in the Pacific Ocean. We now plan on synthesizing our data to provide insight on the health of the hagfish stocks along the west coast of North America, and will release a publication later in 2016.   — Aharon Fleury, University of Victoria, [email protected] Read the symposium abstracts here.