Page 56 - It Can't Be True! Animals! - Unbelievable Facts About Amazing Animals (DK)

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The hagfish releases
thick, sticky slime FAST FACTS
through pores in its skin.
Parrotfish surround
themselves with a
bubble of slime to
The average hagfish deter predators
measures about while they sleep.
50 cm (20 in) long.
The longest ever
recorded was a Parrotfish in
127-cm (4-ft 2-in) slime bubble
Goliath hagfish.
Velvet worms squirt slime from
their head glands to catch prey
in a sticky snare.

Velvet worm with prey

Pairs of
sensing
tentacles
around the
head help
the sightless
hagfish to
navigate.

Instead of biting jaws, the
hagfish has a tongue-like
organ covered in teeth. It
uses this to rasp the flesh of
dead creatures it scavenges
for on the sea floor.

A hagfish can get in a tangle because
in place of a bony spine it has a flexible,
rubbery rod called a notochord. By sliding
the knot along its body, the animal can rid
itself of its own excess slime, slip free from
the grip of an attacker, or get a better hold
on a source of food.

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