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First published online January 31, 2006
Journal of Experimental Biology 209, 702-710 (2006)
Published by The Company of Biologists 2006
doi: 10.1242/jeb.02067
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Hagfish slime ecomechanics: testing the gill-clogging hypothesis

Jeanette Lim, Douglas S. Fudge*, Nimrod Levy and John M. Gosline

Department of Zoology, University of British Columbia, 6270 University Boulevard, Vancouver, BC, V6T 1Z4, Canada


Figure 1
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  		Fig. 1. Apparatus for measuring the effects of hagfish slime on flow rate through and resistance across an artificial gill analogue, which consisted of a piece of test tube brush within polyvinyl tubing. Scale bar, 10 mm.

 

Figure 2
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  		Fig. 2. (A) Apparatus for measuring the effect of hagfish slime on flow through fish gills, consisting of a severed rockfish head with its mouth propped open and housed in PVC piping. (B) Front view.

 

Figure 3
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  		Fig. 3. Apparatus for measuring the removable mass of slime produced from mixing slime exudate in seawater, consisting of a 50 ml beaker mounted on a rotary shaker. A plastic disk fitted with radial spikes hanging on a wire was used to collect removable mass.

 

Figure 4
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  		Fig. 4. Hagfish slime was difficult to remove from the gills after it was drawn into the rockfish's mouth.

 

Figure 5
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  		Fig. 5. The effects of hagfish slime on (A) water flow rates and (B) brush resistance in the artificial gill analogue. Slime release occurred at 40-60 s; three trials are shown separately, and the data have been normalized to their pre-slime values. Note the log scale for normalized resistance.

 

Figure 6
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  		Fig. 6. The effects of hagfish slime on (A) water flow rates and (B) gill resistance in the gills of an isolated rockfish head. Slime release occurred at ~95 s; results from two fish heads are shown separately, and the data have been normalized to their pre-slime values. Note the log scale for normalized resistance.

 

Figure 7
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  		Fig. 7. (A-D) High-speed video images of the local release of slime exudate (arrows) from a hagfish after it has been pinched with forceps. A-D show different hagfish.

 

Figure 8
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  		Fig. 8. High-speed video of a single slime gland demonstrates that slime exudate is released as a coherent jet.

 

Figure 9
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  		Fig. 9. Close-up of slime release from a single slime gland of a hagfish constrained in a tube with a window cut in it. These events were filmed at 125 frames s-1, and the mean jet velocity was 0.17 m s-1. Scale bar, 5 mm.

 

Figure 10
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  		Fig. 10. Slime exudate introduced into still seawater from (A) a spatula or (B) injection from a syringe fails to hydrate as it does in vivo.

 

Figure 11
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  		Fig. 11. The removable mass of slime plotted against stirring time demonstrates that stirring is required for proper slime hydration and cohesion and that excessive stirring eventually leads to slime collapse. Values are means ± s.e.m.

 

Figure 12
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  		Fig. 12. High-speed video (shot at 125 frames s-1) of a sliming event demonstrating that released slime rarely envelops the hagfish and often is dispersed by an evasive manoeuvre that mixes the exudate with seawater.

 




© The Company of Biologists Ltd 2006