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Published: 2010-04-02 15:07:05 +0000 UTC; Views: 7576; Favourites: 105; Downloads: 1036
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The hagfish or "slime hag" is an ancient, jawless vertebrate found throughout the world's oceans, famous for its ability to almost instantly produce vast quantities of mucus, the unique molecular properties of which make it one of nature's stickiest slimes! It is the only vertebrate capable of tying itself in a knot, a skill it uses to twist chunks of meat off large corpses, its preferred food. It is also the only fish capable of sneezing, doing so to clear slime from its single large, round nostril. Its degenerate eyes are covered over by skin, though some species have a primitive third eye scarcely visible atop their head.
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Comments: 17
Cerberus-Chaos [2024-12-01 20:09:59 +0000 UTC]
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PapierowySzczur [2016-03-08 17:12:52 +0000 UTC]
Curiosity from me : it has few independently beating hearts.
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jacobguy [2013-05-28 01:49:33 +0000 UTC]
hagfish don't have a spine, in fact they hav a reputation for being the only animal to have a skull but no spine
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Ugovaria [2012-01-15 08:02:46 +0000 UTC]
Oh hagfish, when will you refrain from being so silly?
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scythemantis In reply to vividgrim [2011-05-07 05:17:42 +0000 UTC]
There isn't ever near enough
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AmnioticOef [2011-03-10 06:39:14 +0000 UTC]
Interestingly, that thing that looks like its mouth is really a large nostril, as you can see here: [link]
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scythemantis In reply to AmnioticOef [2011-03-10 07:03:19 +0000 UTC]
Yep! I was going to do an alternate version of this showing the mouth with its rasping "teeth," but didn't get around to it yet. I love their goofy hose-nose.
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OmegaJoe [2010-10-23 02:14:56 +0000 UTC]
Hey i remember you. i was seeing some hagfish sliming videos and I tell ya thats one unique defense mechanism. A predator could die by literally choking and gagging on snot. XD
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PousazPower [2010-04-02 18:25:36 +0000 UTC]
Note: Hagfish aren't technically vertebrates, because they don't actually have proper serial vertebrae.
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scythemantis In reply to PousazPower [2010-04-02 18:44:41 +0000 UTC]
It was still debated last I had heard, but that was a couple years ago :[
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Gastrolito In reply to scythemantis [2010-04-11 00:52:12 +0000 UTC]
Well, it's not "just" because they don't have vertebrae, but because such lack seems to be plesiomorphic.
Many molecular studies support a clade formed by hagfish and lampreys, sister to all the other vertebrate clades. In such scenario, hagfish would have lost their vertebrae but they would still belong the clade Vertebrata.
On the other hand, most morphological analysis strongly support the hypothesis that hagfish's lack of vertebrae is plesiomorphic, and that the hagfish clade is sister to complete Vertebrata clade (lampreys + gnatostomathes).
I favour the latter.
Nice work, BTW!
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IcyBowser [2010-04-02 17:48:14 +0000 UTC]
Ah, the hagfish. Probably my favorite thing to live exclusively in a whale carcass.
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