Hagfish can absorb nutrients through their skin, a trait previously unknown in vertebrates.
The animals often feed by boring into carcasses and eating their way out of this nutrient-rich environment. Chris Glover at the University of Canterbury in Christchurch, New Zealand, and his colleagues found that samples of skin and gills from Pacific hagfish (Eptatretus stoutii; pictured) can absorb the amino acids glycine and alanine in vitro.
The authors propose that the phylogenetic position of hagfish — which have many primitive traits — suggests that nutrient absorption through the skin may have been widespread in early vertebrates, as it is still among aquatic invertebrates.
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Fish that feed through their skin. Nature 471, 138 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1038/471138c
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/471138c
