Inside a Hagfish

Added: 2026-05-17

[00:00:00]A hagfish can clog a shark's [music] gills in half a second. When the shark bites, the hagfish releases mucus from glands along its body. The mucus expands [music] to 10,000 times its size in 4/10 of a second.

[00:00:15]The shark's gills clog. It can't breathe. [music] It lets go.

[00:00:20]The hagfish slides out of the slime, ties itself into a knot, and slips the knot down its body to scrape itself clean.

[00:00:29]It has four hearts, no spine, and has been on Earth longer than every animal with a backbone.