You may have read about an unusual accident that recently occurred on an Oregon highway that left it and several other vehicles covered in slime. This disgusting aftermath was caused by the overturning of a commercial truck carrying nearly 7,500 pounds of hagfish — a fish that produces an extraordinary amount of slime as a truly effective defense mechanism. In case you missed it, take a look:
Although the hagfish is sometimes called the “slime eel,” they’re not actually eels at all. They come from the Agnantha class of animals, which translates to “fish without jaws.” This cold water fish can be found in many areas around the world, with approximately 76 species ranging in size from a few inches to over four feet long. And while most people consider them disgusting, this fish species is very important to the ocean’s ecosystem.
The appearance of the hagfish is not anything that would raise an eyebrow when it is dormant or moving normally about the marine environment. This slime-producing fish resembles a giant earthworm, with soft, baggy scale-free skin that may be different colors ranging from pale pink to blue-gray depending on the species. Their skin is actually part of their respiratory system, with a capillary network that helps them absorb oxygen when they are submerged in mud at the bottom of the ocean floor, where they live in burrows.
As their species class implies, these fish do not have jaws, or even bones. In fact, they are unique in the animal kingdom as the only creature that has a skull, but not a spine. Their skeletons are made of cartilage rather than bone. Rather than a true eye, the hagfish has eyespots that sense light, but cannot form clear images.
Despite their rather benign appearance, the feeding habits of the hagfish are somewhat unpleasant. For the most part, they feed on dead and dying sea creatures on the ocean floor. When feeding, this fish will burrow face-first into a carcass and start consuming the fish or other creature from the inside out. However, as disgusting as this feeding practice seems, it is a part of the complex food web that comprises every ecosystem.
Hagfish are notorious for producing slime, and lots of it. They have been filmed filling a five-gallon bucket with slime in just a few minutes. The slime is a defense mechanism used to thwart predators such as larger fish, seals, and birds: The fast production of the slippery stuff allows them to slide away before predators can get a grip on their soft bodies. Once it has produced slime, the eel-like fish cleans itself off by tying a knot in its own body near the head, and then working the knot down toward the tail until it is free of the goop it produced to save its own life.
It may be disgusting to us, but you have to respect an animal that’s able to defend itself by being supremely gross!
