Hagfish

I was intrigued to learn of the Hagfish’s defense mechanism in today’s class. I’ve heard of squid spraying ink, sea cucumbers releasing their insides, and deep sea creatures that live in what is called the “twilight zone” discharging bioluminescent chemicals to distract and confuse predators, all of which amazed me. It was something about the slime, however, that tempted me to check out some interesting videos of hagfish. This one was the slimiest!



I also found it quite interesting that hagfish, which are mainly scavengers, have the ability to latch onto slow moving fish with their round suction mouths that contain many pointed teeth, and eat their way into the victims’ body leaving only skin and skeleton.