Hagfish: Nature's slimiest creatures - Noah R. Bressman and Douglas Fudge episode artwork

EPISODE · May 10, 2026 · 6 MIN

Hagfish: Nature's slimiest creatures - Noah R. Bressman and Douglas Fudge

from TED-Ed · host TED-Ed

Discover the extraordinary capabilities of hagfish, the slime-producing fish that has survived on Earth for over 300 million years.--In 2017, a truck screeched to a halt. One of its containers slid off, hit a car, and spilled its contents— thousands of kilograms of hagfish. The result of this accident was an absolute mess: the highway was coated in a thick slime that took the fire department 7 hours to clear. How did these creatures create this stupendous supply of slime? Noah R. Bressman and Douglas Fudge investigate.Lesson by Noah R. Bressman and Douglas Fudge, directed by Denys Spolitak.Support Our Non-Profit Mission----------------------------------------------Support us on Patreon: http://bit.ly/TEDEdPatreonCheck out our merch: http://bit.ly/TEDEDShop----------------------------------------------Connect With Us----------------------------------------------Sign up for our newsletter: http://bit.ly/TEDEdNewsletterFollow us on Facebook: http://bit.ly/TEDEdFacebookFind us on Twitter: http://bit.ly/TEDEdTwitterPeep us on Instagram: http://bit.ly/TEDEdInstagram----------------------------------------------Keep Learning----------------------------------------------View full lesson: https://ed.ted.com/lessons/the-world-s-slimiest-animal-noah-r-bressman-and-douglas-fudgeDig deeper with additional resources: https://ed.ted.com/lessons/the-world-s-slimiest-animal-noah-r-bressman-and-douglas-fudge#digdeeperAnimator's website: https://vimeo.com/user50965180----------------------------------------------Thank you so much to our patrons for your support! Without you this video would not be possible! Francisco Amaya, Daisuke Goto, Matt Switzler, Peng, Tzu-Hsiang, Bethany Connor, Jeremy Shimanek, Mark Byers, Avinash Amarnath, Xuebicoco, Rayo, Po Foon Kwong, Boffin, Jesse Jurman, Scott Markley, Elija Peterson, Ovidiu Mrd, paul g mohney, Steven Razey, Nathan Giusti, Helen Lee, Anthony Benedict, Karthik Balsubramanian, Annastasshia Ames, Amy Lopez, Vinh-Thuy Nguyen, Liz Candee, Ugur Doga Sezgin, Karmi Nguyen, John C. Vesey, Yelena Baykova, Nick Johnson, Carlos H. Costa, Jennifer Kurkoski, Ryan B Harvey, Akinola Emmanuel, Jose Arcadio Valdes Franco, Sebastiaan Vleugels, Karl Laius, JY Kang, Abhishek Goel, Heidi Stolt, Nicole Sund, Karlee Finch, Mario Mejia, Denise A Pitts, Doug Henry, Keven Webb, Mihai Sandu, Deepak Iyer and Javid Gozalov. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Discover the extraordinary capabilities of hagfish, the slime-producing fish that has survived on Earth for over 300 million years.--In 2017, a truck screeched to a halt. One of its containers slid off, hit a car, and spilled its contents— thousands of kilograms of hagfish. The result of this accident was an absolute mess: the highway was coated in a thick slime that took the fire department 7 hours to clear. How did these creatures create this stupendous supply of slime? Noah R. Bressman and Douglas Fudge investigate.Lesson by Noah R. Bressman and Douglas Fudge, directed by Denys Spolitak.Support Our Non-Profit Mission----------------------------------------------Support us on Patreon: http://bit.ly/TEDEdPatreonCheck out our merch: http://bit.ly/TEDEDShop----------------------------------------------Connect With Us----------------------------------------------Sign up for our newsletter: http://bit.ly/TEDEdNewsletterFollow us on Facebook: http://bit.ly/TEDEdFacebookFind us on Twitter: http://bit.ly/TEDEdTwitterPeep us on Instagram: http://bit.ly/TEDEdInstagram----------------------------------------------Keep Learning----------------------------------------------View full lesson: https://ed.ted.com/lessons/the-world-s-slimiest-animal-noah-r-bressman-and-douglas-fudgeDig deeper with additional resources: https://ed.ted.com/lessons/the-world-s-slimiest-animal-noah-r-bressman-and-douglas-fudge#digdeeperAnimator's website: https://vimeo.com/user50965180----------------------------------------------Thank you so much to our patrons for your support! Without you this video would not be possible! Francisco Amaya, Daisuke Goto, Matt Switzler, Peng, Tzu-Hsiang, Bethany Connor, Jeremy Shimanek, Mark Byers, Avinash Amarnath, Xuebicoco, Rayo, Po Foon Kwong, Boffin, Jesse Jurman, Scott Markley, Elija Peterson, Ovidiu Mrd, paul g mohney, Steven Razey, Nathan Giusti, Helen Lee, Anthony Benedict, Karthik Balsubramanian, Annastasshia Ames, Amy Lopez, Vinh-Thuy Nguyen, Liz Candee, Ugur Doga Sezgin, Karmi Nguyen, John C. Vesey, Yelena Baykova, Nick Johnson, Carlos H. Costa, Jennifer Kurkoski, Ryan B Harvey, Akinola Emmanuel, Jose Arcadio Valdes Franco, Sebastiaan Vleugels, Karl Laius, JY Kang, Abhishek Goel, Heidi Stolt, Nicole Sund, Karlee Finch, Mario Mejia, Denise A Pitts, Doug Henry, Keven Webb, Mihai Sandu, Deepak Iyer and Javid Gozalov. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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Hagfish: Nature's slimiest creatures - Noah R. Bressman and Douglas Fudge

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This episode was published on May 10, 2026.

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Discover the extraordinary capabilities of hagfish, the slime-producing fish that has survived on Earth for over 300 million years.--In 2017, a truck screeched to a halt. One of its containers slid off, hit a car, and spilled its contents— thousands...

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