Unveiling the Evolutionary Secrets of the Slimiest Sea Creature through Genomic Sequencing
Scientists have sequenced the genome of the hagfish, a deep-sea scavenger known for its defense mechanism of releasing copious amounts of mucus when threatened. The study revealed that the hagfish's ancestors tripled the size of their genome after diverging from jawed vertebrates more than half a billion years ago, shedding light on the evolutionary history of early vertebrates.