From The New York Times. Eels blamed.
Wordless Outtake: Just Got Slimed
– Posted on July 15, 2017
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Good luck trying to sell that car on craigslist.clear title with little Eel damage.
I saw this in the Times yesterday. A truck carrying tanks of hagfish was forced to stop short, which caused a load shift that resulted in the fish being released onto the road. There are several pictures of the cleaning effort in the original article, including one of a police officer standing in the midst of the mucosal mess behind the slimed car shown in the picture above. I imagine that is a once-in-a-lifetime experience.
Hagfish are very interesting jawless fish with a rudimentary cartilaginous skeleton. When disturbed they can tie their bodies in a knot and produce copious amounts of viscous polymeric slime, which expands greatly as it takes on water. The slime is interesting scientifically because of its viscoelastic properties, and may one day be used as a substitute for some polymers currently made from petroleum.
They are a delicacy in parts of Korea, where the fish are eaten and their slime is used as a thickening agent in food, somewhat like egg white is used in other cuisines.
I haven’t eaten it, but I’ve seen one on that TV show ‘River Monsters’. It was literally sliming itself while in the host’s hands.
Man, where’s the Ghostbusters when you need them?
This is not far from from where we are. I saw it in the local news on Thursday, but I was a bit too distracted to think about sharing it. Leave it to Don in Australia to post it here. Yukk.
I thought this was going to be like a car I saw in a Craigslist ad yesterday. That car was covered in soap suds to the point you couldn’t tell what color it was or even which brand it was for that matter.
Gross!
Exactly the word that came to mind.
LOL!!
I reely hate it when this happens!
HA! Good one.
Belongs in the Farmers Insurance Hall of Claims.
Interesting find Don. The photo does have an artistic quality. It reminds me of the cover art on Peter Gabriel’s third album from 1980.
Ha! I thought I was the only one who remembered that album cover pic. I was in photography school when it came out, and learned that they did that by taking a Polaroid (either 120-format or 4×5, not the “consumer” cameras) and vigorously rubbing it with a pencil eraser while it was developing. (It didn’t work with the SX-70-type stuff, just the peel-apart prints from Polaroid backs)
I’m sure there’s a phone camera filter now that does the same thing with the press of a button. I’m old, get off my lawn, etc. Thanks for the memory jog, though!
If you recall Gabriel’s music videos as well, he pushed visual creativity and artistry to a whole other level beyond his music. A reason why he and Kate Bush worked so well together creatively.
You’re right, ‘smudge’ tools make techniques like this much easier now.
I wonder if this would qualify as an insurance write off? I mean what is the likelihood of being able to really get rid of all that slime (and the associated smells to come) from every nook and cranny in that car?
That interior would have to go, for sure. At that point, it’s probably cheaper just to get a new car… you could possibly part out the slimed car and sell the parts, most valuable mechanical/electrical parts are likely out of the way of slime.
I was watching the local news, and the story said ( I think it was Fox 12 Portland) the women who owned this car did in fact have it repaired and cleaned out. But when she got it back there was still one eel alive and swimming around in the back bumper. But seeing all the damage, I don’t see how this makes any sense, no way the car with all this major damage would be fixed so soon and how would an eel get into the obviously replaced bumper after all this body and paint repair? They showed this exact picture, but this story doesn’t pass the “smell test” in more ways then one. If this story has any merit at all, it must have been a different way less damaged car then the one pictured.
They also said the woman’s young child was in the back in a car seat, but not injured.
The caved in rear is likely sufficient to total this car, slime or no!
I wouldn’t want to be the one who had to explain it to my insurance company. LOL!
Everyone makes fun of that car with the Afghan in the back window and the box of Kleenex on the dash. This is what happens when the Kleenex box goes empty!
This has got to be the most bizarre traffic accident I’ve ever seen- unless you count that episode of NY ER where some poor guy hit a cow on a deserted back road. He suffered numerous broken bones, a severe concussion, glass embedded all in his scalp, face, and upper body, and the worst part- being covered in feces from the cow’s ruptured intestines. Yuck.
If I was that guy I’d probably need PTSD treatment after something like that. Ugh.
Which reminds me of a story, possibly apocryphal, about the dangers of driving for too long a period. Outback Aus, trucks (and cars) wear “roo bars” or bullbars (nudge bars in US?), and trucks don’t stop for kangaroos. Out there, not apocryphal as I’ve seen ’em myself, these magnificent red roos can stand 6+ foot tall and very muscular with it, though sadly still tiny-brained. So, one night, a roadtrain driver pulls into a roadhouse, huge rig covered in blood and fur up to top of the screen. Driver’s a bit shaky, says to the owner, “Mate, you wouldn’t believe it, I just hit the biggest flamin’ roo you’ve ever seen. Truck behind nearly ran into me it slowed me so quick.” Pays for some ciggies, leaves. Next rig immediately after, driver comes in, saying “Mate, you wouldn’t believe what I just saw..”
“Bet I do – the biggest roo you’ve ever seen?”
Driver looks nonplussed.
“Nah,” he says. “The drongo in front me just ran over a f-ing camel!”
hehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehe
Collisions between livestock and automobiles are not that uncommon, especially in rural areas. Cattle, etc. will break down a fence or otherwise get loose and then lie down on the pavement, as the asphalt/concrete retains heat after the sun goes down. Back in the early sixties a family friend was a regional representative for a large retailer, a job that required him to drive many miles through north Texas and Oklahoma. One night while on the road he came over a rise to find a dozen steers lying all over the pavement. He was unable to stop and hit a huge steer with his VW Beetle. Fortunately he was not seriously injured, coming through with only a few bruises; the steer was a total loss. When he went back out on the road the Volkswagen was replaced by a “damned huge Buick”; I guess he didn’t want to push his luck.
Friend of mine hit a cow at night years ago, in a largely flat area the road dipped and turned for a bridge over a creek which is where the black cow was standing and he only saw it when it was too late. The car (early 80s Ford Falcon) was repairable.
They fortunately got a picture of the driver before he left to take a long and soapy shower…