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The Learning Kingdom's Cool Fact of the Day for July 2, 1999
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What kind of creature can tie itself into a knot?
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One of the most ancient creatures in the ocean is the hagfish, which
remains virtually unchanged over its 300 million year history. This
primitive, boneless agnathan (jawless fish) looks similar to an eel,
but without visible eyes.
The hagfish is a scavenger that consumes dead creatures whose bodies
have sunk to the sea floor. When threatened, a hagfish can emit up
to a gallon of a syrupy, toxic slime, that makes it almost impossible
to capture.
There's only one problem with all that slime: the hagfish needs a way
to get rid of it after escaping the predator. It does this by tying
its own tail in a knot, then sliding the knot all the way up past its
head. When the knot pops off its head, it slips out of the slime and
swims away.
More about the fascinating, primitive hagfish:
http://oberon.educ.sfu.ca/splash/wednesday/hagfish.htm
http://www.hmsc.orst.edu/odfw/devfish/sp/hagfish.html
Books about strange sea creatures:
Monsters of the Sea (for general audiences)
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0679406395/thelearningkingd
Creeps from the Deep: Life in the Deep Sea (for children)
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0811812979/thelearningkingd
Today's Cool Word is agnathan:
http://www.cool-word.com/archive/1999/07/02.html
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Copyright (c) 1999, The Learning Kingdom, Inc.
http://www.LearningKingdom.com
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