Slime Attack!

"The severed head of a dead fish with its mouth propped open looked a little odd, its is true." But the scientists didn't worry about the odd looks and the comments their colleagues whispered about their strange experimental set up. They were seriously studying how hagfish survive in the "bigger-fish-eats-smaller-fish" deep ocean world. The story of the discovery of how the hagfish, an eel-shaped bottom feeder, survives predator attacks takes readers into a "fishy" laboratory where slime is the center of attention. Where does the sticky slime come from? How does the slow-paced fish avoid getting "slimed" itself? This is one of five chapters in the book "Secret of the Suffocating Slime Trap,..., and More" in which readers tag along with scientists trying to uncover how sea animals do the amazing things they do to survive their hostile environments. The other chapters are: "Fish Fight the Big Freeze (not your usual anti-freeze), "Bubbleheads Never Heard So Well" (some fish rely on bubbles to listen to their surroundings), "Fish Get Hooked on Decorating" (it's true, some fish decorate their nests), and "Eyes on the Stars" (the unusual eye of brittle stars).
Cool fact about the hagfish:They are the only animals known to tie themselves in a knot!
"These books offer fascinating accounts of how scientists systematically analyzed, tested, and proved their theories or how their findings led to other, serendipitous discoveries." –School Library Journal, February 2009, Reprinted with permission from School Library Journal, copyright Media Source, Inc.
"Secret of the Suffocating Slime Trap,..., and More" Ana María Rodríguez Enslow Publishers, 2009 ISBN: 0-7660-2954-9 Grades 4-9 Color photos, sidebars, hands-on activity, bibliography.