The Hagfish: A Strange Animal With A Valuable Slime Or Mucus

HubPages»
Education and Science»
Life Sciences»
Marine Biology»
Marine Life
The Hagfish: A Strange Animal with a Helpful Slime or Mucus
Updated on October 16, 2017 Linda Crampton moreLinda Crampton is a writer and teacher with an honors degree in biology. She loves to study nature and write about animals and plants.

Make contact with Author A Living Fossil
The hagfish is a strange sea creature with a pretty elongated physique. It looks a thing like an eel but belongs to a diverse group of animals. Hagfish are jawless and are recognized for the big amount of slime that they generate. They are also well-known for feeding on dead and dying animals—often from the inside of these creatures—and scraping the flesh off with their teeth, which are situated on a movable cartilaginous plate.

Hagfish are in some cases referred to as "living fossils". They have a partial skull, which is created of cartilage, but they have no vertebrae, so technically they cannot be classified as either a vertebrate or a fish. Based on the fossil evidence, their look hasn't changed considerably for 300 million years.

Hagfish have one feature that is potentially extremely valuable for humans. Their skin makes a sticky and protective slime that is made of mucus. The mucus contains powerful threads made of protein. Researchers hope to use the threads to make a fabric. One species of hagfish is useful for other motives and is harvested in big numbers. Persons in some nations like to consume the flesh of this animal. The skin is made use of to make a solution that resembles leather and the slime is employed in location of egg white in recipes.

Classification
Hagfish belong to the phylum Chordata and the class Myxini. They were when classified in the class Agnatha with the lamprey. Like the lamprey, the hagfish includes no jaws.

Pacific Hagfish at Scripps Institution of Oceanography
The Hagfish's Physique
Hagfish are often recognized as "slime eels". They are normally pink, blue-grey, dark brown, or black in color. The animals have 3 or four pairs of tentacle-like structures about their mouths and nostril. These tentacles are known as barbels. Hagfish also have a white patch of skin exactly where each eye is located. The eye has no lens and no muscles, but it does have a basic retina containing light receptors. Hagfish can distinguish light from dark but can not see an image.

Hagfish have an excellent sense of smell and a fantastic sense of touch to compensate for their poor vision. They have a single nostril, which is situated above their mouth and carries chemicals to the olfactory organ. The barbels contain touch receptors and may play a function in taste sensation as effectively. The hagfish hears via two inner ears.

The slime glands of a hagfish are visible as a row of white spots on each side of the physique. The animals have no scales and have a skeleton made of cartilage. As opposed to fish, they have no dorsal fin on their back and no paired fins. They do have a tail or caudal fin, even so, which extends along the top and bottom of the animal for a brief distance.

Internal Organs
Hagfish have four hearts—one major a single and 3 accessory ones. They have a gut but no stomach. They breathe by means of gills. Water enters a hagfish's body by means of the nostril and travels by way of the nasal canal to the olfactory organ. It then passes by means of the nasopharyngeal duct to the gills.

Collecting and Observing Hagfish
How Big Is a Hagfish,
An adult hagfish has an average length of about twenty inches. Some species are substantially longer and some are much shorter, however. The goliath hagfish (Eptatretus goliath) is recognized from only a single specimen discovered off the coast of New Zealand in 2006. The animal was a female and had a length of 4.two feet. This is the longest hagfish recognized so far. On the other hand, the dwarf hagfish (Myxine pequenoi) appears to be about 7 inches in length. Its size is primarily based on the two specimens found so far, which have been obtained off the coast of Chile.

Scavengers at Function
Eating plan and Feeding Approach
Hagfish live in burrows on the muddy sea floor, usually in deep water. In spite of their reputation for invading and eating the bodies of larger animals, hagfish eat mainly polychaete worms (relatives of earthworms) and other invertebrates located on the ocean bottom. They are predators as effectively as scavengers and have been observed getting into burrows to catch fish. They are mentioned to be capable to go for months with no food, even so.

Hagfish are usually considered a nuisance by fisherman, due to the fact when the fishermen haul in their catch they may possibly uncover that the catch is only skin and bone and has hagfish inside.

A hagfish feeds by a rasping motion, using teeth positioned on a plate of cartilage known as the dental plate. There are two rows of teeth on every single side side of the plate. The teeth are created of keratin, a challenging protein discovered in hooves, horns, nails, hair, and the outer layer of our skin. The dental plate acts like a rasping tongue and is both protractable and retractable.

A Hagfish Forming a Knot
Slime and Protective Behaviour
The slime of a hagfish is an superb tool for defence. Immediately immediately after being touched by a potential predator, a hagfish releases a large amount of slime. The slime expands and types thick, viscous sheets and strands when it mixes with sea water. It repels predators and can block the mouth and gills of predatory fish, suffocating them.

The hagfish exhibits a further valuable behavior to defend itself against attackers. If a person or a predator picks up a hagfish and the animal can't escape, it twists its physique into a knot. The knot begins at the head and progresses towards the tail. The knotting course of action helps to remove the slime off the surface of the hagfish's body, which is thought to repel the predator. The knotting method could also be beneficial at other occasions when a hagfish needs to get rid of an old slime layer from its skin.

Sneezing Hagfish
If the slime of a hagfish enters its nostril, the animal sneezes to get rid of it.

Defense and Predation
Reproduction
Not significantly is recognized about hagfish reproduction. A hagfish seems to begin its life as a hermaphrodite, which signifies that it has each male and female reproductive organs. When it matures, 1 of the organs functions and the other does not. Investigation suggests that at least some hagfish can modify gender in the course of their lives.

It really is believed that hagfish have external fertilization, though this is not known for specific. Females lay eggs with a difficult covering. The eggs have hooked filaments on each finish which assist them to develop into attached to objects. There is no larval stage. The eggs hatch into miniature hagfish.

Hagfish Slime or Mucus
Persons who encounter hagfish generally consider the slime to be the most unappealing aspect of the animal. Having said that, scientists see excellent prospective in hagfish slime. They hope to use the protein threads to make a sturdy fabric. Some Canadian researchers have currently harvested slime from hagfish, mixed the slime with water, and then spun the stretched fibers like silk.

Researchers have identified that the protein threads in the slime of the Atlantic hagfish are one hundred occasions thinner than a human hair and ten occasions as sturdy as nylon. They also have the benefit of becoming produced by a "green" procedure, as opposed to fibres made from petroleum.

The strength and expansive capacity of hagfish slime is really exciting to researchers. According to a navy scientist exploring the slime, it can expand to a volume that is practically ten,000 greater than its original a single after it enters water.

Genetic Engineering
Scientists do not strategy to hunt or farm hagfish. Rather, they hope to genetically engineer bacteria to make hagfish slime. Some bacteria have proved to be very useful in creating substances for humans as soon as they have had the right gene or genes added to them. Preliminary experiments in employing hagfish genes in bacteria have currently been effective.

Studying Slime
Other Makes use of of Hagfish
The inshore hagfish of the Northwest Pacific Ocean (Eptatretus burgeri) lives in a lot shallower water than other hagfish. Its flesh is utilised as meals in Korea. The skin of the animal is identified as "eel skin" and is made use of to make things such as belts, accessories, and clothing.

Strange or unpleasant as it may sound, the slime of the inshore hagfish is often made use of as a substitute for egg white in recipes. The slime is stated to be obtained by banging a stick on a tank containing a living hagfish.

This hagfish is utilised so intensively that its population is decreasing and the IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature) classifies it as "Near Threatened".

Would you be prepared to touch a hagfish,

Yes, I'd like to touch a hagfish.

Only if this was absolutely vital

No, I could never ever touch this animal!
See benefits Effective Animals
Hagfish are in some cases deemed to be primitive creatures, but their slime has enabled them to be really effective animals. They have existed practically unchanged for millions of years. Their habits may possibly look disgusting to us, but they are really useful for the hagfish and have been a fantastic survival mechanism.

Most hagfish live in deep water and are hard to study in their organic environment. There is nonetheless a lot to be learned about these fascinating creatures and their very productive lives. The effort to find out additional about them really should be quite worthwhile.

sendingAuthorLinda Crampton 5 years ago from British Columbia, Canada

You have raised a good point, Sasha - a "hag gown" does not sound incredibly appealing! A new name would certainly have to chosen for any fabric created from hagfish slime! Thanks for the comment and the votes.

Sasha Kim five years ago

How fascinating ^_^ Thanks for the wonderful read. I wonder if they produced a fabric out of hagfish... would they disguise the name, I never believe designers would flaunt "hag gowns" ^_^ voting up and fascinating!

Thank you extremely much for the comment, Peggy. I appreciate the vote and the tweet!

Peggy Woods 5 years ago from Houston, Texas

This is fascinating Alicia. Hagfish are valuable as scavengers from watching that one particular video where they have been feeding off of a deceased whale physique on the ocean floor. I had by no means even heard of a hagfish prior to reading this. Thanks for writing such an informative hub! Up votes and tweeting.

Thank you for the comment, macteacher. I delight in mastering about new creatures also! There is so considerably that is unknown about ocean life, specially life in the deep sea habitat. It's a fascinating region to explore.

macteacher five years ago

I love finding out about new creatures, and this a single is fascinating. It appears a tiny disgusting, but I'm sure to marine life - us humans appear a small disgusting. It is incredible, with all of our technologies, how tiny we know about deep sea creatures. Thanks for a fascinating hub about an unusual animal.

Thank you for the comment, unknown spy. Yes, the hagfish does appear somewhat like a snake. It has an uncommon look!

IAmForbidden five years ago from Neverland - where young children never ever grow up.

scary..appears like a snake. excellent hub about this strange animal.

Thanks for the pay a visit to, Dianna. I agree - the hagfish does have a purpose and is an crucial component of its ecosystem. It will be exciting to see whether thread and fabric produced from hagfish slime are eventually sold commercially !

Dianna Mendez 5 years ago

I would not want to touch one particular - unless needed. It does have its goal in life as it contributes to the animal kingdom. Intriguing that it is being regarded as as threads for fabric. Enjoyed the study.

Thank you for the stop by and the comment, Deb! I am glad that hagfish have survived, as well. They are fascinating animals, and their slime is extremely intriguing.

Deb Hirt five years ago from Stillwater, OK

I am glad that they have been able to survive for so lengthy. So many animals are nearly extinct. Thanks for the superb info, Alicia!

Thank you very a great deal for the comment and the votes, Seeker7! Yes, the hagfish has been incredibly successful, even although it does not have the qualities of additional sophisticated animals. It's an exciting creature!

Helen Murphy Howell 5 years ago from Fife, Scotland

What a fascinating report. I had heard of hagfish from Tv documentaries but I did not know the half - particularly about how useful their slime might be! Also the 'goliath' hagfish - that is massive compared to what I believed their size could have been! I guess they are seen as becoming primative, but then, if an animal is so effective with what they have, why transform,

I truly enjoyed this fascinating hub - voted up great!!

AuthorLinda Crampton 5 years ago from British Columbia, Canada

Thank you extremely much, drbj! I appreciate your fantastic comment. I wouldn't thoughts touching a hagfish, but I'd have to prepare myself mentally just before undertaking this!