hagfish

(also known as ‘slime eel’; and called ‘hag’ in short)

a kind of fish – salt-water, scale-less, finless, cartilaginous (= hard bone-like substance, but not bone), jawless – long elongated ‘eel-like’ slimy body in pink or blue-grey colour; a paddle-like fin (not actual fin) that runs round the tail;

hagfish mouth

a tooth-less and jawless mouth opening, with sharp teeth-like growth on the tongue; no eyes or poorly developed eyes; six barbels, ‘tentacles’, (= finger-like flesh growth around the mouth part); grows to (smallest) 7 inches to (largest) 4 feet, on average 1½ feet long, and weighs 625-900 grams (the heaviest 6 Kg – goliath hagfish); feeds on (eats) fish – dead or alive, and other sea animals found on the bottom of the seas; about 65 (?) species (kinds) found on the soft, muddy bottom of the seas and oceans world-wide

Some common species of hagfish are: inshore hagfish, giant hagfish, black hagfish, goliath hagfish, six-gill hagfish, short-head hagfish, gulf hagfish, Pacific hagfish, Cape hagfish, and Atlantic hagfish

Special Features:

Everything about hagfish is special, including the looks!

Some fish experts say it is the ugliest of all fish; and some others say it is the monster of the sea!  And the scientists are not in agreement on whether the hagfish is a fish!!

There is reason for every accusation: the head and mouth part are not in the traditional fish shape, and the barbels or tentacles do not help it to look better; it attaches itself to its prey and bores into it through the mouth, gill openings or even through the anus, and eats up the victim inside out! And the physical structure is so primitive – not having fins, jaw, teeth and gill covers – that there has been some heated debate as to which group this fish is to be included!

hagfish slime

In addition, a hagfish gives out a lot of slime or mucus from the slime sacs along its sides.  This disgusting slime has fibres in it, like the fibres the spider’s silk has, and the hagfish produces lots and lots of it to escape from its predators (= other fish or animals that try to kill and eat it).

Scientists are busy trying to put this slime to some use, like the filling gel!

hagfish knot — cleaning itself the slime off

The amazing thing about the hagfish is that it washes itself of the slime by coiling itself into a knot and sliding through the knot, head first, scraping the slime off its body!

Though the hagfish has the other name ‘slime eel’; it is not an eel.

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