diff --git a/blastxml.cabal b/blastxml.cabal
--- a/blastxml.cabal
+++ b/blastxml.cabal
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 Name:                blastxml
-Version:             0.3.1
+Version:             0.3.2
 Synopsis:            Library for reading Blast XML output
 Description:         This library contains a data structure and functions for 
 		     reading output from the BLAST sequence alignment program.
diff --git a/src/Bio/BlastData.hs b/src/Bio/BlastData.hs
--- a/src/Bio/BlastData.hs
+++ b/src/Bio/BlastData.hs
@@ -42,8 +42,12 @@
 
 -- | Each match between a query and a target sequence (or subject)
 --   is a 'BlastHit'.
-data BlastHit = BlastHit { subject :: !SeqLabel, slength :: !Int 
-                         , matches :: [BlastMatch] } deriving Show
+data BlastHit = BlastHit 
+    { hitId :: !ByteString
+    , subject :: !SeqLabel
+    , slength :: !Int
+    , matches :: [BlastMatch] } deriving Show
+
 -- | A 'BlastHit' may contain multiple separate matches (typcially when
 --   an indel causes a frameshift that blastx is unable to bridge).
 data BlastMatch = BlastMatch { bits :: !Double, e_val :: !Double
diff --git a/src/Bio/BlastXML.hs b/src/Bio/BlastXML.hs
--- a/src/Bio/BlastXML.hs
+++ b/src/Bio/BlastXML.hs
@@ -90,7 +90,8 @@
 
 hit2hit :: [STag] -> BlastHit
 hit2hit hs = BlastHit 
-             { subject = SeqLabel $ get "Hit_def"
+             { hitId = get "Hit_id"
+             , subject = SeqLabel $ get "Hit_def"
              , slength = readI $ get "Hit_len"
              , matches = map hsp2match $ partitions (isTagOpenName "Hsp") hs
              }
@@ -134,22 +135,3 @@
           -- ignore frame also for tblastx hits (it can be reconstructed from location)
           strand' :: Int -> Strand
           strand' s = if s > 0 then Plus else Minus
-
-fields :: [String]
-fields = [ "Hsp_bit-score"
-         , "Hsp_evalue"
-         , "Hsp_query-from"
-         , "Hsp_query-to"
-         , "Hsp_hit-from"
-         , "Hsp_identity"
-         , "Hsp_align-len"
-         , "Hsp_qseq"
-         , "Hsp_hseq"
-         , "Hsp_hit-frame"           
-         , "Hsp_query-frame"         
-         , "Iteration_query-def"
-         , "Iteration_query-len"
-         , "Hit_def"
-         , "Hit_len"         
-         , "Hsp"
-         ]