Hagfishes

All 2 species of hagfishes on WAnimals

Each one has its own full profile. This group does not replace them: it brings them together.

Conservation status

Where they live

Recorded in 18 countries. The ones with the most species in the group:

Where to see them

Did you know…?

• Faced with a threat it releases a secretion that, on contact with water, expands within seconds, turning several litres into a dense gel that clogs the attacker's gills; its fibres are being studied for making technical textiles.

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• To rid itself of its own slime and to tear off mouthfuls it ties its body in a knot and runs the knot from head to tail.

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• It has no jaws and no true vertebrae, though it does have a skull, and its position in the vertebrate tree makes it a key piece in understanding our own origins.

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• A single pinch on the tail of a 45 cm adult triggers the production of 0.9 litres of slime, some seven times the animal's own volume. No other material, biological or synthetic, expands so much in so little time.

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• The slime forms in under half a second: coiled threads unwind and the mucus swells, trapping water and clogging the predator's mouth and gills.

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• It has no jaws: it grips the flesh with rasping plates on its tongue and ties its own body into a knot to pull and tear it free.

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Ecosystems