DEPOE BAY, Ore. – According to a press release from Oregon State Police on July 13, 2017 OSP and emergency workers from Depoe Bay Fire District responded to a wreck on Highway 101 near milepost 131. A truck carrying 7,500 pounds of hagfish crashed into five vehicles that had been stopped for roadway construction.
A 1993 Mitsubishi truck driven by Salvatore Tragale of Lincoln City was traveling north on U.S. Highway 101 when he approached roadway construction near milepost 131. An Oregon Department of Transportation flagger had northbound traffic stopped and Tragale could not stop in time. The truck was loaded with containers of hagfish, commonly known as slime eels.
When the truck collided with southbound vehicles it caused a domino effect, pushing four vehicles into each other. There were only minor injuries reported from the first vehicle that the truck collided with, a 2017 Nissan driven by Kim Randall of Sun Lakes, Arizona.
When hagfish are stressed or agitated they secrete a slime. Emergency workers from Depoe Bay Fire District hosed the hagfish and slime off the highway, which is now open.
The inshore hagfish which is found in the Northwest Pacific is eaten in Korea. The hagfish is kept alive and is agitated by rattling its container, which causes it to produce large amounts of slime. The slime is then used in a manner like egg whites.
Hagfish skin is harvested for use in leather and is commonly known as eel skin.