To some, hagfish aren’t as attractive as their name implies!

At a glance, they look like eels. But take a closer look and you’ll find a (generally) 2-foot long jawless, boneless, scaleless ocean creature that oozes slime. Buckets of slime. This last skill sometimes causes scientists to quiver when they accidentally catch one.

When asked to describe hagfish, one deep-sea biologist replied, “Bleeeeeccccccch!” That’s just the response hagfish want. Hagfish ooze slime from hundreds of pores throughout the body.
The slime cocoons the fish inside a clever, if not disgusting, shield.

Predators that ignore the gooey armor soon discover a deadly twist. Hagfish control the release of the slime. They can discharge it through the pores near the predator’s mouth. This causes the predator to gag or choke. The confused predator lets go and leaves, probably to go home and cry to its mommy! (Okay, the mommy part isn’t true, but the rest is.)

Releasing some sort of ‘predator be-gone’ spray isn’t new to the animal world. Everyone knows to avoid the back end of a skunk (except maybe an inexperienced dog). Octopus and squid release ink. Some deep-sea crustaceans release bioluminescent spew to distract, startle, or even mark predators. Hagfish have just taken a gooier, slightly grosser twist on the plan.
The slime (made of bonded protein threads) expands when it meets saltwater. A 19 or 20 inch (50 cm) hagfish can fill a 2 gallon (8 liter) bucket with slime in a matter of minutes

Hagfish basics.
There are more than 90 known species of hagfish! Depending on the species, they might be gray, brown, pink, purple, and the recently discovered ghost hagfish is white. They range in size from about 9.8 to 39 inches (25 to 100 cm) long. The giant hagfish reaches lengths up to 4 feet (127 cm) and weighs 13.7 lb. (6.2 kg). Newly hatched hagfish are a little more than 1.5 inches (4.5 cm) and look just like adults.

Hagfish also have the ability and flexibility to tie themselves into knots. The knot can give them leverage tl pull a hunk of food from a large carcass. And, to remove the slime from its body. Watch hagfish tie themselves in knots. Look for the hagfish’s teeth in the last video as it eats (shared by  Dr. Andrew Clark)

• Knotty Pacific hagfish 
• Atlantic Hagfish Knotting Itself (by Mr Austin Haney and Dr Ted Uyeno)
• Biting Atlantic Hagfish

Where do hagfish live?
They live in oceans throughout the world. This includes the arctic, but not the Antarctic. Some hagfish live nearshore or in shallower water, though most live between 300 to 3,000 feet. Some have been found as deep as 16,405 feet (5000 m).

What do hagfish eat?
Hagfish are lowkey, low energy creatures. They sit along the seafloor in crevices or burrows, waiting for dinner to arrive. Their extraordinary sense of smells cues them when something dead and delicious, such as a whale carcass, has fallen to the seafloor. All hagfish species are important scavengers and predators. They dine on small invertebrates as well as dead fish and mammals that sink to the seafloor. In true hagfish fashion, they even eat with a delightfully distasteful flair. Sometimes they eat prey from the inside out. After dining on the carcass, the hagfish leaves behind a sack skin, filled with bones.  A hagfish species off the coast of New Zealand seems to use its slime to incapacitate a meal. The hagfish finds a burrow (tunnel in the sand) where a fish is hiding. The hagfish sticks its head inside, releases a bit of slime to subdue or suffocate its dinner.

What eats them?
Sea lions, seals, dolphins, porpoises, octopus, and people eat hagfish. Hagfish can be 25 to 50% of some predator’s diets.

Threats:
It’s hard to believe there’s a mad dash to catch hagfish…but there is. People eat hagfish. Hagfish skin is also the real “skin” in eelskin products such as boots, wallets, and purses. Guess marketing “hagfish skin boots” has a limited appeal, Little is known about their populations, breeding…etc. That means scientists cannot determine how this fishery might affect hagfish populations.
Plus, deep-sea dredging, overfishing, and other human behavior in the ocean affect all animals in the deep, especially those that live near the seafloor.Back to WhaleTimes Hagfish Day!

About WhaleTimes, Inc.: WhaleTimes creates a connection between the ocean, ocean research, the researchers, and students through formal and informal education programs such as Hagfish Day. This connection ignites a passion for the ocean, inspires students to consider marine science as a career, and empowers kids to protect the ocean. WhaleTimes, Inc. is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit marine science education organization.

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