Australia: The Land Where Time Began

A biography of the Australian continent 

Lampreys and Hagfish

These are the only extant agnaths. Lampreys are parasites that feed by attaching to the side of a large fish with the rings of numerous small teeth then biting into the flesh and drinking the blood flowing from the wound.

Hagfish are deep sea scavengers that attach to the body of a carcass and pull out chunks by tying their long slimy body into a knot than moving the knot from the tail end to the head, gaining the necessary purchase by pushing the knot against the carcass. They are the largest extant agnathan, growing up to 1.4 m.

Both lampreys and hagfish have remained almost unchanged since their first known appearance in the Carboniferous, 340 million years ago.

Sources & Further reading

John A Long The Rise of Fishes - 500 Million years of Evolution, University of New South Wales Press, 1995