The hagfish, a deep-sea scavenger about the size and shape of a tube sock, has the curious ability to smother itself in its own snot. The mucus is a defense mechanism, released into the water (or in one unfortunate incident, all over an Oregon highway) when the fish feels threatened. A shark trying to take a bite of a hagfish will find itself suddenly unable to breathe, its gills clogged with the slime. “We have to be removing the mucus all the time on the ship, or they will die,” he said. The hagfish has no jaw, making it part of a group that diverged long ago from the ancestors of jawed vertebrates like ourselves.

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Persons: Juan Pascual, Anaya, ” Organizations: University of Málaga Locations: smother, Oregon, Spain, Japan