Hagfish

Hagfish

Hagfish
Reading Level

	edHelper's suggested reading level:	grades 3 to 6
	Flesch-Kincaid grade level:	7.78

Vocabulary

challenging words:

bristle, cartilage, despite, excrete, flesh, gills, hagfish, hence, horny, jawless, mucus, species, underway, wounded, devour, rays

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Hagfish

¹     Hagfish are rule-breakers. They do not like to conform to the physical features found in most fish species. For example, their bodies are smooth; their skeletons are made of cartilage and they lack jaws. Certainly, there are plenty of other fishes that satisfy either of the first two conditions. Eels, swordfish, and catfish are all scale-less. Sharks, rays, and skates all trade true bones for cartilage. The third trait, however, is what makes hagfish stand out, prompting scientists to categorize them as jawless fish. Lampreys are the only other fish sharing the same bizarre characteristics as hagfish. Hence, they are considered jawless fish, too.

²     Hagfish have long, slender bodies, measuring 16-32 inches long. Their eyes, located under their skin, are rudimentary, deeming them virtually blind. To compensate for the deficiency, they have well-developed senses of smell (their single nostril) and touch (the four pairs of tentacles around their mouths) that permit them to search for food as they travel along the murky seabed. Hagfish dine on bristle worms and other marine invertebrates. They also eat dead or dying fish -- the two food items that make hagfish infamous! Of course, many animals devour carrion or attack the wounded. Vultures, Komodo dragons, and Tasmanian devils all do that. Nevertheless, none of them choose to bore inside their prey and consume it inside out with their rasping tongues (plate-like structures bearing two rows of horny teeth). As horrifying and gross as it sounds, this is exactly what hagfish do!

³     Aside from their rather unconventional anatomy and dining behaviors, hagfish are excellent contortionists. They can tie themselves into knots and pass those loops down along their bodies. This skill is very useful when they try to pull off flesh from a carcass, to avoid capture, and to clean off mucus. Mucus? Yes, that's another unique thing about hagfish. When threatened, they produce large amounts of slime to deter would-be predators. As soon as the danger passes, they carry out this trick to wipe slime away.

Paragraphs 4 to 6:
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