Growth and age study of Pacific hagfish (Eptatretus stoutii) off the central California coast

Abstract

The recent development of a short term, but very intense fishery for Pacific hagfish (Eptatretus stoutii) on the Pacific Coast of North America prompted concern over the absence of management and conservation guidelines for this species. However, very little is known of the biology of hagfish, particularly with regard to information applicable to fishery resource management. Growth and population age-size structure data are among critical categories of information that are non-existent to date. This project obtained primary growth information from field and laboratory studies as well as comprehensive population size composition data.