Underwater ocean fish. Deep sea fish of the ocean. Huge squid - mesonichtevis

13.06.2019

Undersea world mysterious and unique. He keeps secrets that have not yet been unraveled by man. We offer you to get acquainted with the most unusual sea creatures, to plunge into the unknown thickness water world and see her beauty.

1. Atoll Jellyfish (Atolla vanhoeffeni)

The unusually beautiful Atoll jellyfish lives at a depth where sunlight does not penetrate. In times of danger, she is able to glow, attracting large predators. Jellyfish do not seem tasty to them, and predators eat their enemies with pleasure.

This jellyfish is capable of emitting a bright red glow, which is a consequence of the breakdown of proteins in its body. As a rule, large jellyfish are dangerous creatures, but you should not be afraid of the Atoll, because its habitat is where no swimmer can reach.

2. Blue angel (Glaucus atlanticus)

A very tiny mollusk rightfully deserves its name, it seems to be floating on the water surface. To become lighter and stay at the very edge of the water, he swallows air bubbles from time to time.

These unusual creatures have an odd body shape. They are blue above and silver below. It is not in vain that nature provided for such a disguise - the Blue Angel goes unnoticed by birds and marine predators. A thick layer of mucus around the mouth allows it to feed on small, poisonous sea creatures.

3. Sponge-harp (Сhondrocladia lyra)

This mysterious marine predator not yet sufficiently studied. The structure of his body resembles a harp, hence the name. The sponge is immobile. She clings to the sediment of the seabed and hunts, gluing small underwater inhabitants to her sticky tips.

The harp sponge covers its prey with a bactericidal film and gradually digests it. There are individuals with two or more lobes, which are connected in the center of the body. The more blades, the more food the sponge will catch.

4 Dumbo Octopus (Grimpoteuthis)

The octopus got its name because of the resemblance to the Disney hero Dumbo the elephant, although it has a semi-gelatinous body of a rather modest size. Its fins resemble elephant ears. He swings them when he swims, which looks quite funny.

Not only the "ears" help to move, but also the peculiar funnels located on the body of the octopus, through which it releases water under pressure. Dumbo lives at a very great depth, so we know very little about him. Its diet consists of all kinds of mollusks and worms.

Octopus Dumbo

5. Yeti Crab (Kiwa hirsuta)

The name of this animal speaks for itself. The crab, covered with white shaggy fur, really resembles a bigfoot. He lives in cold waters at such a depth where there is no access to light, so he is completely blind.

These amazing animals grow microorganisms on their claws. Some scientists believe that the crab needs these bacteria to purify water from toxic substances, others suggest that crabs grow food for themselves on bristles.

6. Short-nosed bat (Ogcocephalus)

This fashionista fish with bright red lips can't swim at all. Living at a depth of more than two hundred meters, it has a flat body covered with a shell, and legs-fins, thanks to which the short-nosed Bat slowly walks along the bottom.

It gets food with the help of a special growth - a kind of retractable fishing rod with an odorous bait that attracts prey. Inconspicuous coloration and a shell with spikes help the fish hide from predators. Perhaps this is the funniest animal among the inhabitants of the oceans.

7. Felimare Picta sea slug

Felimare Picta is one of the species of sea slugs that lives in the waters of the Mediterranean. He looks very extravagant. The yellow-blue body seems to be surrounded by a delicate airy frill.

Felimare Picta, although it is a mollusk, does without a shell. And why should he? In case of danger, the sea slug has something much more interesting. For example, acidic sweat that is released on the surface of the body. It’s not good for anyone who wants to treat himself to this mysterious mollusk!

8. Flamingo Tongue Clam (Cyphoma gibbosum)

This creature is found in west coast Atlantic Ocean. Having a brightly colored mantle, the mollusk completely covers its plain shell with it and thus protects it from negative impact marine organisms.

Like an ordinary snail, the "Flamingo Tongue" hides in its shell in case of impending danger. By the way, the mollusk got its name due to its bright color with characteristic spots. In nutrition, it prefers poisonous gogonaria. In the process of eating, the snail absorbs the poison of its prey, after which it becomes poisonous itself.

9. Leafy Sea Dragon (Phycodurus eques)

The sea dragon is a true virtuoso of mimicry. It is covered with "leaves" that help it to appear inconspicuous against the backdrop of the underwater landscape. Interestingly, such abundant vegetation does not help the dragon to move at all. Only two tiny fins located on its chest and back are responsible for speed. The leaf dragon is a predator. It feeds by sucking prey into itself.

Whelps feel comfortable in the shallow waters of warm seas. And these marine inhabitants are also known as excellent fathers, because it is the males who bear offspring and take care of him.

10. Salps (Salpidae)

salps are invertebrates Marine life, which have a barrel-shaped body, through the transparent shell of which internal organs are visible.

In the ocean depths, animals form long chains-colonies that are easily torn apart even by a slight wave impact. Salps reproduce by budding.

11. Piglet squid (Helicocranchia pfefferi)

The outlandish and little-studied underwater creature resembles Piglet from the famous cartoon. The completely transparent body of the piglet squid is covered with age spots, the combination of which sometimes gives it a cheerful look. Around the eyes are the so-called photophores - organs of luminescence.

This clam is slow. It's funny that the squid-pig moves upside down, because of which its tentacles look like a forelock. He lives at a depth of 100 meters.

12. Ribbon Moray (Rhinomuraena guaesita)

This underwater inhabitant is rather unusual. Throughout life, the tape moray eel is able to change sex and color three times, depending on the stages of its development. So, when the individual is still immature, it is painted black or dark blue.

today I propose to see what fish live on the bottom of the oceans, you know many of them, but I think it will be interesting for you to learn more about them. Who is too lazy to read everything is in the first video)))
hope you enjoy it!http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=BU7dD-4sbKM

Footbalfish - fish "soccer ball"

Footbalfish is a family of deep-sea fish of the anglerfish order, found in tropical and subtropical waters of the world's oceans. For its rounded shape, resembling a ball, in English-speaking countries, the name “soccer ball fish” has stuck to the fish.

Like other anglerfishes, this family is characterized by pronounced sexual dimorphism - female fish are large, almost ideally spherical in shape. The length of an adult female can exceed 60 cm. Males, on the contrary, are very small - less than 4 cm, and the body is slightly elongated. Both males and females are dark in color - from reddish brown to completely black.

Footbalfish was first discovered at the beginning of the 20th century while searching for flounder habitats. The habitat of these anglers begins at a depth of 1000 m and below. The fish are not very mobile.

Meshkort

large deep-sea fish found in all oceans except the Arctic Ocean. Weakly studied.
Do not confuse the bagworm with the bagworm, which is much smaller in size and lives closer to the surface.

Meshkorot (lat. Saccopharynx) - the only known genus deep-sea fishes in the family Meshkorotyh. It lives at a depth of 2 to 5 km. Adult fish can reach 2 meters in length. Together with a huge mouth planted sharp teeth, a man sees a baghort as a real monster from the depths.
The body of the fish is cigar-shaped, with long tail, which can be 4 times the length of the body. The mouth is large, strong and flexible, with teeth recurved into the mouth. Some bones are missing in the skull of the fish, so it is easy for the sackworm to open its mouth almost 180 degrees. Even the gills are not like the gills of other fish, and are located not on the head, but on the belly. At great depths, there is not always enough food, so the fish have adapted to eat up for the future, swallowing food more than their own weight and size. Having eaten "to the eyeballs" sackcloth can be long time go without food.

Unicorn comb fish. unicorn crestfish

Unicorn crestfish is a very rare little-studied fish, found everywhere at a depth of 1000 m. It got its name from a horn-like growth on its head.
Crested fish (crestfish) are inhabitants of tropical waters living at great depths. They are characterized by a huge dorsal fin extending from the head to the tip of the tail. All of them have an extended subtle body silver color. The main "attraction" of some crests is ink bags, which allow the fish to throw out a cloud of ink in case of danger, confusing predators and allowing the fish to retreat.

Sticktail (Stylophorus chordatus)

The sticktail (Stylophorus chordatus) is a deep-sea fish with an elongated body and a long caudal fin, which is 2/3 of the total length of the fish. It lives in the warm waters of the oceans.
The sticktail lives at a depth of 300-800 m. At night, the fish rises closer to the surface, and at night it returns. The height of daily migrations can be 300 meters.

wandtail pretty rare fish although there is no exact population data. The discovery of Stylophorus chordatus took place in 1791 by the English zoologist G. Shaw, but the next time the animal was in the hands of scientists happened only a century later.

coal fish

Coalfish - deep sea commercial fish, living in the northern part of the Pacific Ocean, including in Russia.
Coal lives on muddy seabed at a depth of up to 2,700 m. Predatory - preys on small fish, jellyfish, cuttlefish and krill. It grows up to 120 cm. An adult can gain weight of 50 kg.

Coal fish is an object of commercial fishing. Fish is especially valued in Japan, where it is served in the most expensive restaurants in fried, baked and smoked form, used to make sushi.

Trippod fish (tripod fish)

Trippod fish (tripod fish) - deep-sea bottom fish, known for its long rays, on which it "stands" at the bottom.

The tripod fish is truly a unique fish. It has very long rays growing from the pectoral fins and tail. The fish rests on these rays when it "stands" at the bottom. The length of these rays can be 1 m, and the length of an adult fish is 30-37 cm. It lives in all oceans, with the exception of the Arctic, at great depths from 800 to 5,000 m.

Most of the time the tripod fish spends standing on its rays on the seabed.

Observations of the fish showed that the eyes of the Trippod fish are poorly developed and do not participate in the feeding process. In complete darkness, they would not have helped. The fish uses its long front pectoral fins to locate prey. They act like hands, constantly feeling the space around them. Having caught any object, and having determined that it is edible, the tripod fish sends it directly into the mouth.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=yOKdog8zbXw

Mistake

Mistakes are a family of deep-sea fish whose name comes from the Greek ophis, meaning snake. They are found in temperate and tropical waters of the oceans.

Bugs live near the bottom. Most of these fish were found at great depths of 2000 m and below. One of the bug species, Abyssobrotula galatheae, was caught at a record depth for bony fish - 8,370 m in the Puerto Rico deep-sea trench in the Atlantic Ocean.
Unlike their closest relatives - fish from the Brotula family, mistakes are not viviparous, but lay eggs. The appeared trifle grows close to the surface, merging with zooplankton numerous in the tropical region.
Let's look at some of the most interesting views wrong.
Abyssobrotula galatheae

Pink bug (Pink cusk-eel)

Giant Grenadier or Giant Grenadier

The giant grenadier or giant grenadier is a deep-sea fish from the cod-like order that lives only in the northern part of the Pacific Ocean. It has commercial value.
Giant grenadier is most often found in the cold waters washing Russia - the Sea of Okhotsk, the coast of Kamchatka, near the Kuril and Commander Islands. Here it is known as "small-eyed longtail" or "small-eyed grenadier", although in other countries it is generally accepted to call it a giant grenadier.

The size of the fish is really gigantic compared to other deep sea fish. Adults can reach 2 meters in height and weigh 20-30 kg. The maximum recorded age of an adult fish was 56 years, but it is believed that the giant grenadier can live even longer.

Lasiognathus - skillful angler

Lasiognathus is a fish from the genus of monkfish that lives in the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans. Among ichthyologists, it is known under the unofficial name "skillful fisherman"

Lasiognathus got its nickname of the angler for a reason. This deep-sea fish has an almost real fishing rod with which it hunts other fish and invertebrates. It consists of a short fishing rod (basal bone), fishing line (a modified ray of the dorsal fin), a hook (large skin teeth) and a bait (luminous photophores). This gear is really amazing. In different subspecies of Lasoignatus, the structure of the rod can vary from short (up to the middle of the body) to long (exceeds the length of the body).

Sack swallower or black eater

Sac-Glotter - deep sea representative perciformes from the suborder chiasmodes. This small fish grows up to 30 cm in length and is found everywhere in tropical and subtropical waters.

This fish is called a bag-swallower for its ability to swallow prey, which is several times larger than itself. The fact is that it has a very elastic stomach, and there are no ribs in the stomach that would prevent the expansion of the fish. Therefore, he can easily swallow a fish four times longer than his height and 10 times heavier!

Macropinna microstoma is a fish with a transparent head.

Macropinna microstoma is a small deep-sea fish known for its transparent head, through which it sees with eyes located inside the soft tissues of the head. It lives in the cool waters of the Arctic and Pacific Oceans, at a depth of over 500 meters.

For the first time this fish was shown to the public quite recently, only in 2004. It was then that photographs of Macropinna microstoma were obtained. Before that, only zoologists showed interest in fish, who speculated about how this fish, with such a strange visual mechanism, is able to see at great depths in almost complete darkness. And is it capable at all? As we already know, in the case of other deep-sea fish, vision at such a depth does not matter much.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=RM9o4VnfHJU

sea bat

Sea bats are a family of deep-sea bottom fish that have adapted in a special way for life under high pressure. They practically do not know how to swim, moving along the bottom on their modified fins, which have become similar to the legs of land animals.

Sea bats live everywhere in the warm waters of the oceans, without swimming in the cold waters of the Arctic. As a rule, they all keep to depths of 200 - 1000 meters, but there are species of bats that prefer to stay closer to the surface, not far from the coast. A person is quite familiar with bats, which prefer surface waters.

sea slug

sea slug - deep sea view fish, which, together with bassogigas, are the deepest-sea fish on the planet. In 1970, sea slugs were discovered at a depth of 8 km.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=w-Kwbp4hYJE

cycloton

Cycloton is a widespread medium-sized deep-sea fish of the Gonostomidae family. It occurs everywhere at depths from 200 to 2000 m. Cycloton is the most important element the food chain various deep-sea and valuable commercial fish.

Cycloton is a fish that most drifts along with ocean currents, unable to resist them. Only occasionally do they make small vertical migrations.

Drop fish.

The blobfish is a deep-sea fish found in deep waters near Australia and Tasmania. It is extremely rare for humans and is considered critically endangered.
grows up adult fish up to 30 cm. It keeps at depths of 800 - 1,500 m. The body of the fish is a watery substance with a density less than that of water.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=SyodDVT1A40

Opisthoproct.

Opisthoproct (Barreleye) is a deep-sea fish, also known as the "ghost fish". This is not a large and very interesting fish. scientific name Opisthoproctidae comes from the Greek opisthe ("for", "behind" and proktos ("anus").

Opisthoproct lives at great depths up to 2,500 m in all oceans, with the exception of the Arctic Ocean. Their appearance is peculiar and does not allow them to be confused with other deep-sea fish.

sabertooth

Sabertooth is a deep-sea fish that lives in tropical and temperate zones at a depth of 200 to 5,000 m. It grows up to 15 cm in length, reaching 120 g of body weight.

Saber teeth grow quite slowly. Scientists suggest that fish can reach 10 years of age.

Hatchet fish

Hatchet fish are deep-sea fish found in temperate and tropical waters of the world's oceans. They got their name for the characteristic appearance of the body, resembling the shape of an ax - a narrow tail and a wide "body-axe"
Most often hatchets can be found at depths of 200-600 m. However, it is known that they are also found at depths of 2 km.

Ghost shark or marine chimera

Marine chimeras are deep-sea fish, the oldest inhabitants among modern cartilaginous fish. distant relatives modern sharks.

Chimeras grow up to 1.5 m, however, in adults, half of the body is the tail, which is a long, thin and narrow part of the body.
These fish live at very great depths, sometimes exceeding 2.5 km.

deep sea anglerfish

The deep-sea anglerfish is a deep-sea fish from the anglerfish order. They live at great depths of the World Ocean, preferring to stay up to 3 km. from the surface of the water.

Female anglerfish feed on others deep sea dwellers- howliods, hatchet fish and

The selection presents a wide variety of living creatures that inhabit the depths of the sea: strange and unusual, creepy and frightening, colorful and incredibly cute. Many of them have been opened recently.

Marine "flycatcher"

These predator shells live in deep-sea canyons near California. According to the method of hunting, they are somewhat similar to carnivorous plants, they are fixed at the bottom and calmly wait until the unsuspecting prey itself swims into the gaping mouth. This way of eating does not allow them to be too picky in food.

shark walker

Off the coast of Halmahera Island (Indonesia) was discovered the new kind a shark that "walked" along the bottom in search of prey, just like a lizard. An unusual fish, a relative of the bamboo shark, grows up to 70 cm in length. She hunts mainly at night, and her dinner becomes small fish and invertebrates. And by the way, this is far from the only fish that “walks” along the seabed. Representatives of the family of bats and lungfish are able to walk on fins.

Christmas tree

Marine life lovers and divers call the colorful inhabitants of the Pacific and indian ocean. In fact, it is a tubular polychaete sea worm, his Latin names– Spirobranchus giganteus.

No fish, no...

This is a mollusc and it does not fit at all into the idea of how gastropods should actually look like. Tethys (Tethys fimbria) are quite large, about 30 cm long, their almost shapeless translucent body is decorated with bright irregularly shaped processes. Tethys are widespread in the waters of the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, where they slowly glide along the seabed.

Pugaporcinus

If there was a competition for the title of "weirdest worm", pugaporcinus would easily bypass all the other participants. These unusual inhabitants ocean depths better known in narrow circles as "flying buttocks". Their existence was only recently known, in 2007. The creature is no larger than a hazelnut.

tripod fish

Bright hallmark This fish is long thin pectoral fins, with which it rests on the seabed and stands in anticipation of prey. Not surprisingly, the name of this fish is Brachypterois grallator, or simply tripod fish. Scientists still know little about them, since the creatures live at a depth of 1000 to 4500 meters. The length of the fish is about 30-35 cm.

Thaumaticht axel

These representatives of the anglerfish detachment were discovered not so long ago, but are named after the Danish prince Christian Axel, who died in the middle of the last century. Axel is considered one of the strangest and most unattractive creatures, although there are not so many sympathies that live at a depth of 3500 meters (remember at least the star of the Internet - a drop fish). In length, they reach 50 cm, or rather, scientists managed to meet fish of this size. In the creature's mouth is a special gland with luminous bacteria. To start the hunt, the fish simply open their mouths and potential victims will float to the light source.

moonfish

bat

A fish from the family of ray-finned detachment of the very ugly anglerfish. Widely distributed in warm tropical and subtropical seas, except for the Mediterranean. Lives at depths up to 100 meters.

sea spiders

These harmless creatures live in almost all waters with normal salinity. Like ordinary spiders, their body is relatively small from 1 to 7 cm, but the leg span can be up to 50 cm. There are about 1000 species of sea spiders.

mantis shrimp

This colorful creature has unique vision and moves with incredible speed, but most of the time the true predator hides in coral reefs at a depth of 2 to 70 meters. Sometimes it is called a fighting cancer or even a terrorist cancer. Officially, he is a mantis shrimp. Why, it becomes clear at a glance. The segments of the mandibles of these crayfish are bent at an angle, like in praying mantises. Just like insects, crayfish are able to instantly throw a limb forward, much faster than a person blinks.

giant underwater pipe

Pyrosomes or fireballs are tiny sea creatures somewhat similar to jellyfish, they are only a few millimeters long, but, uniting in a giant colony, they create huge translucent pipes up to several meters long. And it is also worth remembering that they are capable of bioluminescence. Imagine a huge underwater pipe glowing in the night - a breathtaking sight.

strange appearance

The deeper we go down, the smaller the number of fish, the fewer good swimmers, the smaller their size. But their appearance will become more and more surprising - more and more loose, their bodies will become gelatinous, flickering in the dark with luminous organs - photophores.

What fish live in deep seas

To date, only 7 species of fish have been found in deep-sea trenches: three species of bugs and four species of sea slugs. The record for the depth of capture belongs to abyssobrothule, caught in the Puerto Rico trench at a depth of 8370 meters, and pseudoliparis - Pseudoliparis, caught 7800 meters from the surface. Data on the life of these fish is practically absent, but as far as their appearance can be judged, these small, lethargic creatures feed on benthic crustaceans and, possibly, the remains of other animals. This is what it looks like paraliparis - Paraliparis, living at a depth of 200 - 2,000 m.

Probably, fish can be found at the bottom and deeper depressions. So, during the immersion of the bathysphere “Triestvo” into the Mariana Trench at a depth of about 10,000 meters, scientists managed to photograph some kind of flounder-like creature, but further analysis of the images did not confirm the unambiguous belonging of this object to fish. In any case, there are few fish at such depths. Scientists have not yet found giant octopuses or squids that can swallow a whole ship.

Giant extinct armored fish

The armored fish that lived in the Jurassic period reached a length of more than 5 m, they lived in fresh water.

Coelacanths appeared 60 million years ago

The famous type of deep-sea fish coelacanths (lobe-finned fish) have existed for 60 million years.

side lights

The "flashlights" themselves are small and large, single or arranged in "constellations" over the entire surface of the body. They can be round or oblong, like luminous stripes. Some fish resemble ships with rows of luminous portholes, and in predators they are often located at the ends of long antennae - rods. Many deep sea fish, such as anglerfish, glowing anchovies, hatchets, photostome, there are luminous organs - photofluors, which serve to attract prey or to camouflage from predators. In females melanocet like other females deep sea anglers(and there are 120 species of them), a “fishing rod” grows on the head. It ends with a brilliant esque. By waving the “fishing rod”, the melanocet lures the fish to itself and directs them directly into the mouth.

In luminous anchovies, photofluors are located on the tail, trunk around the eyes. The light of the abdominal photophores directed downward blurs the outlines of these small fish against the background of weak light coming from above and makes them invisible from below.

Hatchet photophores are located along the abdomen on both sides and on the lower part of the body and also emit a greenish light downwards. Their lateral photophores resemble portholes.

The most famous deep sea fish– this is an anglerfish. Anglerfishes originate from Perciformes. Almost 120 species of deep-sea anglerfish are known, about 10 of which are found in the North Pacific. Found in the Black Sea European anglerfish(Lophius piscatorius).

The deepest sea fish

It is believed that of all vertebrates, fish belonging to the genus Bassogigas (family Brotulidae). From the research vessel John Eliot managed to catch bassogigasa at a depth of 8000 m.

Shellfish lived in the Jurassic

More than 5 m long, which lived in fresh water.

Crawling one-legged

Norwegian scientists from the Institute of Marine Research in Bergen reported the discovery of a creature unknown to science, living at a depth of about 2000 meters. This is a creature of very bright colors crawling along the bottom. Its length is not more than 30 centimeters. The creature has only one front "paw" (or something very similar to a paw) and a tail, and does not look like any of the marine life known to scientists. It was not possible to catch the creature, but the scientists were able to take a good look at it and photograph it many times.

Why do fish need flashlights?

In conditions of constant darkness, the ability to glow plays a huge role. For predators, this is the lure of prey by fishing fish. In anglerfishes, the first ray of the spiny dorsal fin is shifted to the head and turned into a rod, at the end of which there is a bait that serves to attract prey. Their victims have the ability to glow, on the contrary, - a way of disorienting predators that are lost in a round dance of flashes. In some fish, only the lower part of the body glows, which makes them less visible against the background of diffused overhead light. Maybe that's how you become invisible iron fish, which has a fantastic appearance with a completely flat silvery bottom that reflects light. But the main task of photophores is, of course, the designation of individuals of the same species.

telescopic eyes

It is clear that with such developed organs of luminescence, vision should not be worse. Indeed, many of these fish have very complex telescopic eyes. So, close to the ironfish bathylychnops- a unique four-eyed fish, in which two main eyes are directed obliquely upwards, and two additional ones are directed forward and downward, which allows it to receive an almost circular image.

Many fish, especially giganthurs and bathyleptuses, have telescopic eyes on stalks, which allows them to perceive very weak light sources, such as radiation from other fish.

Blind deep sea fish

With further increase in depth and complete disappearance signs of light, vision ceases to play an important role and the eyes gradually atrophy. Completely blind views appear. Many of these deep-sea creatures are passive, with flabby, gelatinous bodies often lacking tail fins. Having descended four kilometers into the water, you will see rat-tailed grenadiers with "armored" heads and sensitive antennae, typhlonus, which most of all resemble a small airship, they have no tail fin, they are completely blind and hunt only at the expense of the lateral line, galateataum, which lure prey right in your mouth ... And, of course, the most amazing anglerfish lasiognathus, or Lasiognathus saccostoma(which, by the way, means in translation "the ugliest among the ugly"). The fish called Bombay ducks, - scaleless, large-mouthed, distinguished by a flabby texture of a fatty body and a brown-brown color. Ateleopus - gelatinous, covered with smooth slippery skin, it most of all resembles a huge half-meter tadpole. His head makes a great impression - not at all a fish, soft and translucent, covered with delicate slippery skin, it resembled something jelly-like. A small funnel-shaped and completely toothless mouth raised strong doubts about the ability of its owner to eat fish and crustaceans.

Fish that can't swim

sea bats (Ogcocephalidae) only B “in plastunsky” crawl along the bottom with the help of “arms and legs” - chest and pelvic fins. They spend their whole lives lying on the bottom, passively waiting for prey. The family contains 7 - 8 genera and about 35 benthic species living in tropical and subtropical waters of the World Ocean. They are characterized by a huge disk-shaped flattened head and a short narrow body covered with bony tubercles or spikes. They have a small mouth with small teeth and tiny gill openings. A short "rod" (illicium), which is crowned with a bait (escoy), is drawn into a special vagina - a tube located just above the mouth. A hungry fish throws out an illicium and lures prey by rotating the esca. The largest marine bats do not exceed 35 cm in length.

In the countries of the South East Asia from disc bats (Halieutaea) make baby rattles. Cut out from dried fish abdominal cavity, completely scrape out the insides, put small pebbles in their place; the incision is carefully sewn up and the spikes covering the body are ground down.

Only females have rods

Lasiognath males Lasiognathus saccostoma They also differ in larvae from females in the absence of the “illicia” rod. During metamorphosis in males, the head and jaws are greatly reduced, the eyes remain large, and the olfactory organs are greatly enlarged. In females, the opposite is true: the head and jaws increase greatly, and the olfactory and visual organs become smaller; in the adult state, the "ladies" reach 7.5 cm. In addition, the males have special teeth in the front of the mouth, merging with their bases and serving to capture microprey and attach to females.

When the male is ten times smaller than the female and fuses with her

http://www.thejump.net/id/LongnoseLancetfishII.jpg "src="http://www.apus.ru/im.xp/049050053048055052053051053.png" alt="(!LANG:alepisaurus from http:/ /www.thejump.net/id/LongnoseLancetfishII.jpg" width="250" height="166" style="padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; border-top-style: none; border-right-style: none; border-bottom-style: none; border-left-style: none; border-width: initial; border-color: initial; " /> !} The ability to self-fertilize

Alepisaurus (Alepisaurus) potentially capable of self-fertilization: each individual produces eggs and sperm at the same time. And during spawning, some individuals function as females, while others function as males. Alepizaurs are large, up to 2 m long, predatory fish that live in the pelagial of the open ocean. Translated from Latin, it means "scaleless beast", a characteristic inhabitant of open ocean waters.

Spawning of deep sea fish

-occurs at great depths. Developing eggs gradually rise upward, and larvae 2 - 3 mm long hatch in the near-surface layer 30 - 200 m, where they feed mainly on copepods and planktonic chaetognatha. By the beginning of metamorphosis, the juveniles have time to descend to a depth of more than 1000 m. Apparently, its immersion is completed quickly, since females at the stage of metamorphosis are found in layer 2 - 2.5 thousand m, and males at the same stage - at a depth of 2 thousand m. In the layer 1500 - 2000 m, both sexes live, which have passed metamorphosis and have reached maturity, but sometimes adults are also found at shallower depths.

Adult females feed mainly on deep-sea bathypelagic fish, crustaceans and, less frequently, cephalopods, while adult males, like larvae, feed on copepods and chaetognaths. The vertical migrations of deep-sea anglerfish associated with individual development are explained by the fact that only in the near-surface layer can their inactive and numerous larvae find enough food to accumulate reserves for the upcoming metamorphosis. Huge losses due to the eating of eggs and larvae by predators are compensated in anglers by a very high fecundity. Their caviar is small (no more than 0.5 - 0.7 mm in diameter), their transparent larvae resemble tiny balloons, due to the fact that they are dressed in a skin case inflated with gelatinous tissue. This fabric increases the buoyancy and size of the larvae, which, along with transparency, protects them from small predators.

Hunting with a vacuum

Interesting to hunt sticktail (Stylophorus chordatus)- a bizarre fish with telescopic eyes and two long tail rays, forming an elastic rod, exceeding the length of the fish itself. Waiting for the appearance of prey (small crustaceans), the sticktail slowly drifts in an upright position. When the crustacean is nearby, the fish sharply pushes its tubular mouth forward, increasing its volume. oral cavity almost 40 times, and the crustacean is instantly drawn into this vacuum trap.

deep sea predators

There are many fast swimmers in the water column of medium depths, especially among predators. They pierce the water column, rising to the surface, and there, while chasing flies, sometimes jump out into the air. This (for example, Anotopterus nikparini), alepisaurs, godwit, rexia. All of them have powerful teeth and a long, slender body that allows them to pursue prey in a steal and easily evade pursuers. But still, when you see these swift hunters, their "deepness" is easily guessed by the same characteristic sagging of their bodies. However, this does not prevent them from attacking such strong fish as salmon, and leaving characteristic cut wounds with their powerful jaws. Rexia seem to sometimes hunt cooperatively. They tear their prey to pieces, and then parts of the same prey are found in the stomachs of different predators caught by the same trawl.

Many of these deep-sea hunters have a very striking and memorable appearance. So, alepisaurs are “decorated” with a huge flag-shaped fin and, with a length of one and a half meters, weigh only about 5 kilograms, their body is so banal.

Scary teeth of the underwater world

Big-headed daggertooth (Anotopterus nikparini) is a large (up to 1.5 m long), a few inhabitants of medium depths of 500-2200 m, it is presumably found at depths up to 4100 m, although its juveniles rise to a depth of 20 m. It is widespread in its subtropical and temperate regions of the Pacific, summer months penetrates north to the Bering Sea.

An elongated, serpentine body and a large head with huge beak-shaped jaws make the appearance of this fish so peculiar that it is difficult to confuse it with someone else. A characteristic feature of the external structure of the dagger-tooth is its huge mouth - the length of the jaws is about three-quarters of the length of the head. Moreover, the size and shape of the teeth on different jaws of the dagger-tooth differ significantly: on the upper - they are powerful, saber-shaped, reaching 16 mm in large specimens; on the lower - small, subulate, directed backwards and not exceeding 5-6 mm.

Studies carried out in the last decade by scientists from different countries have shown that the daggertooth is an active predator. He hunts, as a rule, on schooling pelagic fish, such as saury, herring and Pacific salmon - pink salmon, sockeye salmon and sim. Based on data on the shape, location, and direction of cuts on the victim's body (mainly from the back to the lower body), scientists believe that the dagger-tooth attacks mainly from below. Most likely, he is waiting for his prey, hovering in the water column with his head up. In this case, the best disguise is provided and the predator can get close to the prey as close as possible. When attacking, two options are possible: a direct throw vertically upwards and a throw with a short-term pursuit of the victim. It is unlikely that the daggertooth, with its not very muscular body and poorly developed tail, could have pursued such good swimmers as salmon for a long time.

Of particular interest is the question of how the daggertooth manages to inflict such serious damage on such large fish as Pacific salmon. After examining the structure of the teeth of the dagger-tooth, scientists came to the conclusion that cut wounds "help" him to make the salmon themselves. The attacked fish actively tries to escape after the predator managed to grab it. But the awl-shaped teeth of the lower jaw directed backwards firmly hold the prey. However, if she makes a turn around the axis of capture, releasing her body from the mandibular teeth of a predator, she immediately manages to escape, but at the same time the body is cut by the saber-shaped teeth of a dagger-tooth.

Refrigerator in the stomach

Alepisaurus, swift predators, have an interesting feature: food is digested in their intestines, and the stomach contains completely whole prey, seized at various depths. And thanks to this toothy fishing tool, scientists have described many new species.

Angler swallows whole

Real deep-sea hunters resemble monstrous creatures frozen in the darkness of the bottom layers with huge teeth and weak muscles. They are passively attracted by slow deep currents, or they simply lie on the bottom. With their weak muscles, they cannot tear pieces out of the prey, so they do it easier - they swallow it whole ... even if it is larger than the hunter in size. This is how anglers hunt - fish with a lonely mouth, to which they forgot to attach a body. And this waterfowl, bared by a palisade of teeth, waves its antennae with a luminous light at the end in front of it.

Anglerfish are small in size, reaching only 20 centimeters in length. The largest types of anglers, for example ceraria, reach almost half a meter, others - melanocet or borofrine have an outstanding appearance .

Sometimes anglers attack such big fish that an attempt to swallow them sometimes leads to the death of the hunter himself. So, once a 10-centimeter anglerfish was caught, choking on a 40-centimeter longtail.

Analyzing the catch after deep-sea trawling in the western Pacific, scientists noticed the tightly stuffed belly of a tiny 6 cm anglerfish, from which seven freshly swallowed victims were recovered, including a 16 cm fish! Perhaps gluttony was the result of his brief association with the captives of the trawl.

Like a mitten, pulls on the prey

Crookshanks (Pseudoscopelus) has an amazing ability to frequently swallow living creatures that exceed their own size. This is a scaleless fish about 30 cm long, with flaccid muscles and a huge mouth armed with hefty teeth. Its jaws, body, and stomach can be highly stretched, allowing it to swallow large prey. Some Zhivoglost have the ability to glow. Previously, they were considered quite rare species, and only recently it has been established that they are willingly eaten by marlin and tuna, descending to these depths for fattening.

However, many of them can swallow the victim whole more than themselves. For example, a 14 cm howlilod is placed in the stomach of an 8 cm giant.

New discoveries of deep sea fish

A strange appearance The deeper we go down, the smaller will be the number of fish, the fewer good swimmers, the smaller their size. But their appearance will become more and more surprising - they will become more and more loose, gelatinous ...

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The waters of the World Ocean occupy more than 70% of the entire surface of the planet Earth, however, today the inhabitants of the deep ocean remain the least studied by ichthyologists because of the difficult access to their habitat. In the lower layers of the seas and oceans, there are many of the deepest-sea fish and creatures that surprise, and sometimes simply shock with their appearance or lifestyle. A significant part of them was discovered relatively recently, and many have yet to come to the attention of researchers of the deep sea.

general characteristics

deep sea fish live on the slopes and in the ocean floor, within 200-6000 m of the depth of the oceans. About 2000 of them are known, and those that live below 6000 m, there are about 10-15 varieties, which is 2% of the total number of the deepest creatures.

Description

Among the creatures that live at the bottom of the ocean, there are completely blind or, on the contrary, distinguished by sharp eyesight to track prey, which is due to the constant darkness in these layers of water. Since the seabed is mostly silty, many living organisms are characterized by a specific body structure for convenient and quick movement - a flat body, long legs, the presence of needles or huge claws.

Some creatures may be distinguished by the presence of bioluminescence as illuminated body parts (outgrowths, fins, tails). This way of adapting to the environment provides some opportunities for successful life, for example, it can serve as a bait for prey, as lighting in dark waters. It is often used for camouflage on the seafloor or to scare off predators.

The closer to the bottom of the ocean, the stronger the pressure becomes and the temperature of the water decreases, there is much less food for food. All these factors significantly influenced the structural features of some fish species. In these places, there are the most unusual inhabitants of the ocean, which have huge mouths and heads, the dimensions of which can be several times greater than the length of their own body.

Rating of the most common types

The list of TOP-10 deep-sea fish includes the most incredible and unusual representatives sea depths. The appearance of many of them is so unusual that it resembles aliens from other planets. However, this list is much wider and can be supplemented with other equally interesting specimens due to the great diversity that live in the abyss of the oceans.

Another name - goblin shark - was obtained due to the unusual shape of the head: there is a beak-shaped outgrowth and long jaws retracting forward. It also has an unusual pink color due to the proximity of blood vessels to the surface of the skin.

Lives deeper than 200 m in almost all oceans, maximum depth dive is 1300 m, food consists of crabs, fry and squid. Catching prey is carried out by extending the jaws and swallowing it along with water.

There are several rows of teeth - separately for hunting prey and splitting the strong shells of various crustaceans.

The length of males is 2.4-3.7 m, females - 3.1-3.5 m. The maximum parameters known to researchers were 3.8 m in length and 210 kg in weight.

This is a representative of the ghostly black cat sharks that live in the north of the Atlantic Ocean, can be found at a depth of 600-1900 m. The first description by experts dates back to 1979.

Most often they fall into nets off the coast of Japan, they have large eyes, they are distinguished by a large head, small fins and tail.

The average length of the female is 76 cm, the largest known value the size, which is documented, is 85 cm.

According to the versions of some researchers, it is considered the deepest-sea fish in the world, since the case of catching a specimen of this genus of the mistaken family from the John Eliot vessel is officially known.

Research work was carried out on the ship, during which fish was taken on board from a depth of 8370 m. This happened near a trough in Puerto Rico.

In the works of many ichthyologists, the bathysaurus is considered as the deepest-sea species of all thoroughly studied today.

Its habitat is located at the level of 3500 m, the body is elongated (almost 65 cm). There is also the name "fierce head", which was given to him for his unattractiveness and menacing appearance.

It is also called the pelican fish (Eurypharynxs pelecanoides), sack-eater, black devourer, black live-swallower, belongs to the order of sack-like fish. The closest relatives are eels.

The specific structure of the body - a huge mouth and a short body - makes it possible to swallow prey many times larger than the size of the predator itself. Zhivoglotov completely lacks scales, no ribs and no air bladder.

The length of individuals varies from 4.8 cm (the smallest representative of the suborder) to 161 cm, the maximum recorded specimen reached 2 m.

In 1939, Wilbert Chapman made the discovery and description of what is probably one of the interesting fish deep water. And only in 2004 the world saw photographs depicting a macropinna, which surprised many people, since the fish has a transparent head.

Distributed in the waters of the Pacific Ocean near the coasts of Canada, the USA and Japan at a depth of 500-800 m, the largest individuals live much lower.

Body length is about 15 cm, covered with large scales, massive fins. The head is protected by a transparent shell in the form of a dome; inside, cylindrical eyes are located in a separate chamber. Green colour. Well-developed eye muscles ensure the movement of the eyes from a vertical to a horizontal position, which makes it possible to productively monitor and capture prey.

Another name sounds like "monkfish", obtained due to terrifying appearance. live in eastern region Atlantic Ocean at a depth of up to 550 m, is considered commercial, because of the dense white meat, dishes with it are widely popular in national cuisine France.

Individual specimens up to 2 m and weighing 57.7 kg can be found, the average length is 1-1.5 m. The body is without scales, everything is covered with skin growths and bumps. The monkfish is interesting in that it has an outgrowth-fishing rod on its head with a luminous bait at the end to attract prey, its glow is provided by specific bacteria that live with this monster in symbiosis.

It is found in almost all areas of the oceans in deep layers at a level of 500-5000 m. It has a relatively small size - weight 120 g and length up to 15-18 cm. It looks intimidating - a powerful head with 4 sharp fangs. The teeth are located on both jaws, resemble building nails, and protrude forward.

The sabertooth is a predator that, when catching a prey, copes with it in almost a matter of seconds, biting it several times in a row with its needle-teeth. When the jaw is closed, the lower teeth fit into the "sheath" on both sides of the brain.

It is interesting to know that environmentalists in 2008 put the sabertooth in first place in the list of the 10 most terrible animals on the planet.

It keeps at a depth of 200-1000 m, has some resemblance to a stingray, as it has a large head and a small tail. Their shell is similar in strength to that of a tortoise and serves as protection against marine predators.

Almost does not swim, moves along the bottom on fins adapted to environmental conditions, which over time have become similar to the limbs of land animals.

Soft-bodied whale fish (Flabby Whalefish)

Considered one of the deepest living species, the habitat is at 3500 m and below. The length reaches 40 cm, outwardly they resemble the cetacean family.

Habitat - the lower layers of the waters of the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans up to 1450-1570 m. It has a snake-like body of dark brown color up to 2 m long.

The name is derived from the presence of 6 skin folds - gill slits. The hunt is almost like that of snakes - the shark bends its body and makes a lightning-fast jump-throw forward to the victim. Strong long jaws allow you to securely squeeze the prey, as several rows of sharp teeth help to hold it.

It is probably true that it is considered the most bizarre of deep-sea specimens, as it has an unusual body shape.