The open ocean - A Fascination for Fish: Adventures of an Underwater Pioneer - page 256

ily fill an entire bucket. This defense must work, because hagfish
are rarely found in the stomachs of predators.
A common misconception among people is that if you drown
at sea you'll be eaten by sharks. The truth is, you're much more
likely to become lunch for a sucking, writhing mass of scaveng-
ing hagfish, which feed by boring inside the bodies of dead ani-
mals. Not a pleasant thought, to say the least.
Dave headed the sub into the slight current and gently settled
onto the muddy bottom. Within a few minutes dozens of hagfish
began showing up, attracted by the smell of the bag of fish pieces
Dave had tied to the sub before we descended.
At the beginning of the dive Dave had shown me how the suc-
tion device worked. A stainless steel rod extended through a wa-
terproof fitting to the outside of the hull; at its end was a flexible
vacuum hose that connected to a pump and collection bag hang-
ing from the rear of the sub. By turning on the pump, objects could
be sucked up and deposited in the bag. By pushing and directing
the end of the rod inside the sub, I was able to aim the hose at a
hagfish; when I yelled, “Now!” Dave flicked on the pump, and up
the hose and into the bag the hagfish went. We were able to collect
several hagfish by this method— or more accurately, several hagfish
and a lot of slime. The fish made it okay, but the net collecting bag
was a total loss. Hagfish slime is almost impossible to get o¤.
We had been on the bottom for over an hour, and just as Dave
had said, it was getting chilly. The walls inside the sub were wet
from the moisture condensing from our breath, which trickled
down to form a pool beneath the slightly raised platform I was
lying on. I was growing increasingly uncomfortable, but there was
no way I could change my position in the cramped quarters of
the tiny sub. Although the whole experience had been incredible,
when it came time came to head back to the surface I didn't com-
plain: my aching body was ready. As we neared the surface Dave
began to blow all the water out of the forward and aft ballast tanks.
All of a sudden the sub started tipping at an alarming forty-five-
degree angle, front down. I slid downward and ending up jammed,
pretzel-like, in the bow.