Also known as a slime eel, a single hagfish can produce up to five gallons of snot when stressed. So consider what 7,500 pounds of the prehistoric critters could do when bounced on the freeway.
Highway 101 “just got slimed” the Depoe Bay Fire District announced on Twitter immediately after the accident.
Considered a delicacy in Korea, that’s where the hagfish were bound. Scientists say the slimy excretion is a defense mechanism against predators. It works. The eels have been around for more than 300 million years, virtually unchanged and unevolved.
They feed on the dead and are fearless. There have been reports of sharks choking to death while attempting to devour a goo-generating hagfish.
Check out this video. But you better have a strong stomach. I think I’d rather face a ghost than one of these monsters.
STRANGE FACT: The third Wednesday in October is National Hagfish Day.
