4 Chapter 1 Animals have many ways to defend themselves against predators Some run Some hide Some fight back with sharp teeth and claws And some use unusual strategies to protect themselves The hagfish relies on gooey slippery slime SLIMY HAGFISHES Hagfishes also called slime eels are nearly blind How do hagfishes find their way 4
A hagfish lives in a burrow on the bottom of cold ocean waters It slithers like a snake along the seabed The hagfish is nearly blind but it has a good sense of touch and smell It feels its way around and finds food with a ring of tentacles around its mouth It smells with a single nostril on the top of its head It eats small invertebrates or carcasses that settle to the ocean floor A hagfish seems defenseless But its body is ready for an attack Hagfishes can go months without eating They can absorb nutrients through their skin and gills 5
As the hagfish feeds on a fish carcass it does not notice a shark swimming along the bottom of the ocean The shark swims closer watching the hagfish To the shark the hagfish looks like easy prey The shark moves quickly It grabs the hagfish in its jaws and tries to bite down It doesn’t know that the hagfish’s body is armed with a unique weapon SHARKS AND OTHER FISH ARE A HAGFISH’S MAIN PREDATORS 6
Slime Attack Snot-like slime oozes out of the hagfish’s body Instead of a meal the shark gets a mouthful of slime Choking the shark drops the hagfish The shark gags trying to remove the slime from its mouth and gills Meanwhile the hagfish has escaped The shark will not attack this creature again A hagfish’s sticky slime coats its attacker’s mouth and clogs its gills 7
