The opposite of gorgeous isn’t hideous; it’s hagfish. “Widely the most disgusting animals in the ocean, if not on earth,” per Smithsonian, these appallingly jawless sea atrocities have tentacles surrounding their mouths and tooth-like keratin structures on whatever it is you call their non-jaws. That might seem like a harsh description of a creature that has no control over its unsightly looks, but that fish is way harsher on the eyes. In fact, they can’t even look at themselves because according to the Alaska Department of Fish and Game, hagfish are blind. Their forebears could see 300 million years ago, but obviously the trauma of seeing each other forced them to evolve into blind fish to make reproduction bearable.

Of course, the grossest aspect of the hagfish is its slime. Also known as “snot snakes” and “slime eels,” these tentacle-mouthed mucous monsters go full-on Slimer from Ghostbusters on different creatures. Deep sea ecologist Andrew David Thaler explained to Gizmodo, “The slime provides protection and helps isolate food. Hagfish have been observed escaping from sharks by choking them with enormous amounts of slime. When they feed on a carcass, the slime pours out, covering the carcass and preventing other scavengers from encroaching on their food.”

The hagfish gives new meaning to “snot-rocket”

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