hagfish

Everyday

1. A hagfish is a long, eel-shaped sea fish with no jaws and no proper backbone that lives on the deep sea floor and eats dead animals. tree →
2. It is famous for making huge amounts of slime when attacked, which clogs the gills of predators. tree →

In the lessons

In science lessons on adaptations and food chains, the hagfish is a scavenger (it eats dead animals) and a decomposer-helper on the sea floor; its slime defence is a strange adaptation. It is one of the oldest kinds of fish. Phrases: «hagfish slime», «slime eel».

Examples

• A hagfish can make a bucket of slime in seconds. tree →
• The hagfish ate the dead whale on the sea floor. tree →
• Hagfish have no jaws. tree →
• Sharks spit out hagfish because of the slime. tree →
• Hagfish can tie themselves in knots to clean off slime. tree →
• Some people call the hagfish a slime eel. tree →

Note

Plural is usually «hagfish» (like «fish»). It is not a real eel, even though it looks like one.