Extraordinary creatures: hagfishes

Hagfishes are ancient jawless fishes that are found in all of the oceans, except around Antarctica, at depths between 100 and 1000 m, usually in coastal waters. The animals are extremely agile and can tie themselves in knots; they mainly scavenge on carcasses that fall from above. When attacked by large fish, such as sharks, hagfish instantaneously release an enormous quantity of slime, which clogs the attacker's gills, forcing them to release the hagfish almost unharmed. Douglas Fudge, Chapman University, USA, has been studying hagfish since 1997, working initially on the biomechanics of their slime, before investigating other aspects of their biology. Fudge has identified five new hagfish species and Eptatretus fudgei is named after him. He tells Journal of Experimental Biology about these extraordinary living fossils, how they are remarkable escapologists and how they survive shark attacks.