Abstract
Hagfish slime is the ultra-dilute material that is formed when hagfishes eject the contents of their slime glands into seawater. The slime consists of two main components, mucin vesicles and thread skeins, each arising from distinct cells within the slime gland. Deployment of the slime involves swelling of the mucin vesicles when they contact seawater, and their subsequent shearing into long mucin strands when they are acted upon by hydrodynamic mixing. The mucin strands attach to the thread skeins and transduce mixing forces to them, thereby effecting their unraveling. Hagfish slime is believed to function as a defense against gill-breathing predators.
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