By Susan Milius
A whirligig beetle seeps white goo when pestered, and that slow ooze—instead of a big squirt—gives the beetle a chance in a life-or-death contest inside a fish’s mouth, say Cornell University researchers.
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When a largemouth black bass gets a mouthful of beetle, the fish doesn’t swallow immediately, report Thomas Eisner and Daniel J. Aneshansley. Instead, the bass starts flushing water through its mouth, spits out the beetle for a few seconds, and then snaps it up and sloshes it around in more water, as if trying to rinse off a vile taste.