[2][3][4] Its scientific name alludes to the Institute of Oceanographic Sciences (IOS), Wormley, Surrey, which supplied the holotype.

[5] Myxine ios is a marine bathydemersal fish,[6] living at depths of 614–1,625 m (2,014–5,331 ft).

It is non-migratory, living in the North Atlantic waters off Iceland, Ireland and the western Sahara.

[5] It is a seven-gilled hagfish; it can be distinguished from related species by its large number of tooth cusps: between 44 and 51.

[9] The Irish M. ios population is distinguished from the southern variety by its white head and whitish middorsal or midventral line.