![]() ![]() "When blood gets squeezed backward as they fit through a hole, that extra volume can be accommodated without a rise in back pressure," Fudge says. That's because, unlike other fish skin, hagfish skin is very loosely attached to the body, which means their skin can hold large volumes of blood. ![]() They're Like HoudiniĪ hagfish-usually about a foot long-can squeeze through an incredibly small gap as narrow as half its body width, according to a study led by Calli Freedman and published recently in the Journal of Experimental Biology. January 13, 2012-For the first time, scientists have recorded the defense strategy of the hagfish, which, when attacked, secretes slime from hundreds of pores on its body. Their slime consists of mucus and thin fibers, which clog the gills of any predator that dares eat it, says Fudge. The pudgy ghouls from the Ghostbusters movies have nothing on the hagfish, which, when threatened or disturbed, spew out slime at the stunning rate of four cups in a fraction of a second. Here are seven reasons hagfish deserve our respect. ![]() I feel relieved that she returned to sea survive in her habitat." "We just observed it until it returned to sea, dragging itself like a snake. "We’d never seen anything like it," Lissette Hermosilla, who was part of that group, told National Geographic in an email. Recently, fishermen in Bío Bío, Chile, were surprised to catch a hagfish, which they placed on a rock for a closer look. Nearly 80 species of the tentacled deep-sea dwellers exist worldwide, most of which hunt small invertebrates and scavenge carcasses on the seafloor, says Douglas Fudge, a biologist at Chapman University in California. These long, eel-like fish have stellar defenses (blasting predators with slime), impressive offenses (tying themselves in knots), and some truly bizarre bodies (sightless eyes and multiple hearts). Being a spineless bottom-dweller might sound like an insult, but the hagfish has enough unique talents to put humans to shame. ![]()
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