Mike Rowe’s Craziest ‘Dirty Jobs’ Maine Encounter: The Slime Eels That Became TV Gold
You would think with all the beautiful things that Maine has to offer, Mike Rowe from the TV Show, "Dirty Jobs," would remember something like that, but no.
When I spoke to him recently, he remembered, quite vividly, the Maine Hagfish.
I really wanted him to say something about how wonderful the food was in Portland or how Acadia was the most beautiful of all the National Parks in the USA.
Mike Rowe remembers the slime eels.
Here's what he said:
"We were filming in Maine and we stumbled across a guy who told us a story about Hagfish, slime eels. (The Hagfish) was not why we were there. We were there to do a story on these young kids who were killing it in the lobster game.
We filmed that part of the show and then, we had a few days extra. We found this other show which turned into a huge episode, got nominated for an Emmy.
These guys who capture these snotty little nightmares called hagfish, it was fascinating."
The original reason that Mike was here in the 207 was to talk to Jason and Josh Strout of Harrington, Maine.
Winter Harbor, Maine
The episode with the slime eels came next.
The hagfish are considered a delicacy in Korea. Their skin is also used to make all kinds of products.
The hagfish ought to be called the gag-fish, because omg gross, however, I do think Nature is incredibly efficient. I mean, check out that mouth!
The Hagfish has remained unchanged for 300 million years. It slivers across the ocean floor and it has a skull, but not spine, according to the Smithsonian Channel via YouTube.
Its mouth is its most bizarre feature. It's something out of a horror movie. It has rows and rows of teeth that are made to mince up dead bodies.
The Hagfish only has one nostril and with that one nostril, it smells dead things falling onto the ocean floor. To keep other creatures away from their meal, the hagfish secrete a lot of slime into the water. Ew.
When Mike comes back to New England, I am hoping he will find something else to remember about the Northeast.
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