In an era of exploration and discovery, some creatures may be better left alone in the unknown pockets of the planet.
Take the hagfish.
The slimy, fleshy fish that appears eel-like is straight out of your nightmares — and a new species was just discovered.
During a re-examination of hagfish specimens collected off the coast of southern Grand Bahama Island from 1981, researchers noticed one looked different, according to a study published May 30 in the journal Ichthyology & Herpetology.
Unlike other known species, this female hagfish had “five pairs of gill pouches and gill apertures,” according to the study.
The gill pouches were “well spaced and arranged in a nearly straight line,” researchers said, different from the crowded gill pouches seen on other hagfish.
The fish also had four or five “branchial slime pores,” according to the study, double what other species have.
