A recent study conducted for The IUCN Red List of Threatened
Species™ has determined that 20% of hagfish species are at an
elevated risk of extinction*. Scientists warn that this figure
could be much higher. The results of this research, carried out
in association with Conservation International (CI), indicate
that the primary causes of hagfish declines are the direct and
indirect effects of fisheries. Hagfish represent an ancient and
unique evolutionary lineage; as bottom feeders they play an
important role by cleaning the ocean floor and recycling
nutrients into the food web which maintains the overall health
of the ecosystems they inhabit. “By consuming the dead and
decaying carcasses that have fallen to the ocean floor, hagfish
clean the floor creating a rich environment for other species
including commercial fish such as cod, haddock and flounder,”
says Landon Knapp, research assistant for the IUCN Marine
Biodiversity Unit at Old Dominion University and lead author of
the study. “The presence of hagfish