They are long, vermiform, and exude a sticky slime (from which the typical species Myxine glutinosa was named). (academickids.com)
Hagfish are long and vermiform , and can exude copious quantities of a milky and fibrous slime or mucus from about 100 glands or invaginations running along their flanks. (eol.org)
Myxine1
An Atlantic hagfish ( Myxine glutinosa ) using its slime to get away from a kitefin shark ( Dalatias licha ) and an Atlantic wreckfish ( Polyprion americanus ). (eol.org)
Mucus2
Most fish are also covered in a layer of mucus or slime which can protect against pathogens such as bacteria, fungi, and viruses, and reduce surface resistance when the fish swims. (wikipedia.org)
It has also recently been discovered that the mucus excreted by the hagfish is unique in that it includes strong, threadlike fibres similar to spider silk . (academickids.com)
Hyperotreti1
A hagfish is any of several marine chordates of the class Myxini , also known as Hyperotreti . (academickids.com)
Vertebrate3
There has been long discussion in scientific literature about the hagfish being non-vertebrate. (academickids.com)
Recent molecular biology analyses however (see references) indisputably classify hagfish as a vertebrate. (academickids.com)
The classification of hagfish was once the subject of debate: was the hagfish a type of vertebrate that through evolution had lost its vertebrae, most closely related to lampreys (the earlier view), or did the hagfish represent a stage preceding the evolution of the vertebral column, as is the case with lancelets (the alternative view)? (eol.org)
Craniata1
The alternative scheme proposed that jawed vertebrates are more closely related to lampreys than to hagfish (i.e., that vertebrates include lampreys but exclude hagfish), and introduced the category craniata to group vertebrates near hagfish. (eol.org)
Class1
The original scheme groups hagfish and lampreys together as cyclostomes (or historically, Agnatha ), as the oldest surviving class of vertebrates alongside gnathostomes (the now-ubiquitous jawed vertebrates). (eol.org)
Mouth3
If a Hagfish wishes to disengage from its current prey, they form a knot with their body and slide it towards the mouth. (academickids.com)
Hagfish have no true fins and have six or eight barbels around the mouth and a single nostril . (eol.org)
The mouth of the hagfish has two pairs of horny, comb-shaped teeth on a cartilaginous plate that protracts and retracts. (eol.org)
Skin3
Hagfish are eaten in Japan , and their skin is made into "eel leather" in Korea . (academickids.com)
Its skin is attached to the body only along the center ridge of the back and at the slime glands, and is filled with close to a third of the body's blood volume, giving the impression of a blood-filled sack. (eol.org)
[7] The Atlantic hagfish, representative of the subfamily Myxininae, and the Pacific hagfish, representative of the subfamily Eptatretinae, differ in that the latter has muscle fibers embedded in the skin. (eol.org)
Length1
Hagfish are typically about 50 cm (19.7 in) in length. (eol.org)
Made1
[11] The fibers are made of proteins and also make the slime flexible. (eol.org)