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Truck spills slimy load all over Oregon road – drivers slip in eel slick
Korean 'delicacy' cakes cars
It's always The Register's pleasure to remind you that, however bad you think your day is going, someone else has it worse.
Today spare a thought for drivers in Oregon after a truck carrying 3,402kg of "slime eels" dropped its load all over Highway 101.
Pictures released by the Oregon State Police reveal a slimy scene as hundreds of the critters spilled out all over the road.
OSP @OregonDOT & @LincolnCountySO on scene overturned #Slime #Eel truck Hwy101 MP131 closed. #Cleanup on Aisle 101 pic.twitter.com/Z9s9XbQ247
— Oregon State Police (@ORStatePolice) July 13, 2017
A mass clean-up operation was successfully carried out, with the local fire department posting a video that showed a bulldozer sweeping the slippery flesh out of the road.
Thanks @OregonDOT pic.twitter.com/SmwHtWLeQ3
— Depoe Bay Fire Dist. (@DepoeBayFire) July 13, 2017
And, as the road reopened later that afternoon, cops were left wondering what to tell the dry cleaners about the mess they'd got themselves into.
What to tell the #drycleaner? pic.twitter.com/2QyxSriiGq
— Oregon State Police (@ORStatePolice) July 13, 2017
The creatures in question are hagfish. They produce a milky, fibrous mucus from glands on their flanks, and have skulls but no jaw or spine (pedant's note: they do have rudimentary vertebrae).
Although they don't sound particularly appetising to us, apparently in Korea hagfish are not just a delicacy but also an aphrodisiac, and this lot was off to the country for consumption.
Suffice to say, we at Vulture Central are not so convinced – and we hope these charming images haven't put you off lunch.
But maybe give your local chippy a miss if jellied eels are on the menu.