Teeth can be vital to evolutionary success, notes the vertebrate zoologist Bill Schutt in “Bite: An Incisive History of Teeth, From Hagfish to Humans.” Which doesn’t mean that the more teeth you have, ...

The humble hagfish is an ugly, gray, eel-like creature best known for its ability to unleash a cloud of sticky slime onto unsuspecting predators, clogging the gills and suffocating said predators.

The hagfish, a deep-sea scavenger about the size and shape of a tube sock, has the curious ability to smother itself in its own snot. The mucus is a defense mechanism, released into the water (or in ...

Teeth have played an underappreciated role in vertebrate evolution, argues zoologist Schutt (Cannibalism) in this animated study. Exploring the various forms and uses of animal teeth, he explains that ...

The following is an excerpt from Bite: An Incisive History of Teeth, from Hagfish to Humans by Bill Schutt. When you purchase products through the Bookshop.org link on this page, Science Friday earns ...