Hagfish - Filmed using slime to fend off sharks

Mickeroo · 09-11-2011 12:06AM #1

Here's some interesting footage of a Hagfish using the slime it generates to fend of a shark. It chokes up the shark's gills causing it to gag and release the fish.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5kS64P-o5mU

Apparently its in dispute whether they should really be classified as fish since they lack a backbone or a jaw. Thats the first time they've ever been caught on film using their lme for defence.

The article I found the footage on also has a couple more videos, one showing them actively hunting. It was suspected that they hunted but never witnessed.

Here's the link: http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/notrocketscience/2011/10/27/hagfish-filmed-choking-sharks-with-slime-and-actively-hunting-fish/

Freaky little things eh?

vibe666 · 09-11-2011 12:11AM

its mad stuff, saw it the other day.

its amazxing how quickly they can secret so much slime and the rather drastic effect the viscosity of it has on predators.

Mickeroo · 09-11-2011 12:29AM

vibe666 wrote: »

its mad stuff, saw it the other day.

its amazxing how quickly they can secret so much slime and the rather drastic effect the viscosity of it has on predators.

Ya, I think they can fill a bucket with slime in a few seconds. THey're not sure if the predators end up suffocating to death afterwards or if the slime clears out of the gills after a short while.

Galvasean · 09-11-2011 12:50PM

Where can I get me some of that slime for the net time I go diving with sharks?

What is that cool looking 'bearded' fish about 2 and a half minutes in?

I would very much doubt the slime suffocates the aggressors too often. It just seems a far too efficient way of killing off predators. At that rate surely there would be none left in no time!

Mickeroo · 09-11-2011 01:07PM

Galvasean wrote: »

Where can I get me some of that slime for the net time I go diving with sharks?

What is that cool looking 'bearded' fish about 2 and a half minutes in?

I would very much doubt the slime suffocates the aggressors too often. It just seems a far too efficient way of killing off predators. At that rate surely there would be none left in no time!

Good point. They're practically untouchable it seems.

I think the name of the fish pops up in the vid(if thats the one you mean?), it says Cirrhigaleus Australis which is apparently more commonly known as the Southern Mandarin Dogfish.

Adam Khor · 09-11-2011 08:19PM

There's been new findings on hagfish recently. To start with, it seems that they can absord nutrients through their skin (someone has even compared them to a swimming intestine):

http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2011/03/hagfish-skin-eating/

And they are predatory as well as scavengers:

http://www.nature.com/srep/2011/111027/srep00131/full/srep00131.html

Check out the creature's amazing jaws! Wouldn´t look out of place on an alien creature's head:

snowstreams · 09-11-2011 11:16PM

An extremely strange mouth alright. Reminds me of the mouth from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anomalocaris after watching David Attenboroughs first life. http://firstlifeseries.com/

Mr. Boo · 10-11-2011 04:25PM

Mickeroo wrote: »

Ya, I think they can fill a bucket with slime in a few seconds. THey're not sure if the predators end up suffocating to death afterwards or if the slime clears out of the gills after a short while.

I remember being taught, back in fish biology 101, that they only need to secrete a small amount of slime and that it expands rapidly when mixed with seawater. Anyone else hear this?

Great video. Such a unique group of fish.

tricky D · 10-11-2011 04:34PM

Mr. Boo wrote: »

I remember being taught, back in fish biology 101, that they only need to secrete a small amount of slime and that it expands rapidly when mixed with seawater. Anyone else hear this?

A little slime goes a long way video.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bb2EOP3ohnE

aidoh · 10-11-2011 06:48PM

Alot of people seem to think they're fish?

Mickeroo · 11-11-2011 08:50AM

aidoh wrote: »

Alot of people seem to think they're fish?

Aren't they technically classed as fish at the moment? But there's a lot of debate as to whether they should be(because they don't have a spine?), I think Lampreys are kind of in the same boat?

aidoh · 11-11-2011 09:12AM

I'm not sure really, but jaws didn't appear until the Devonian so there is up to 412 million years seperating lampreys and hagfishes and modern jawed fish/vertebrates in general. I'd only really extend 'fish' to sharks/rays etc. and to bony fish and that's it.
You wouldn't consider birds and bats to be the same taxon just because they both have similar ecospaces (sometimes) and can both fly.

Lampreys use that same slime to digest food and sometimes when mating. They slime all over themselves and then wrap their body up in knots which pushes food through them. Weird creatures!

Galvasean · 11-11-2011 02:12PM

aidoh wrote: »

and sometimes when mating. They slime all over themselves and then wrap their body up in knots

Nice :pac:

Adam Khor · 14-11-2011 02:08AM

Galvasean wrote: »

Nice :pac:

Haha what are you thinking? Or am I the dirty-minded one? XD

Iwannahurl · 14-11-2011 02:25AM

"Hagfish slime is 99.996% seawater."

http://www.cns.gatech.edu/colloquia-seminars/seminars/2006/Fudge.pdf

http://www.cbu.edu/~seisen/Chordates_files/frame.htm#slide0008.htm

Hagfish - Filmed using slime to fend off sharks

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