Deep sea fish list. Deep-sea fish: characteristics, examples and photos. Lobster the Terrible Claw

Deep sea fish. They live in conditions where life, it would seem, is completely impossible. Nevertheless, it is there, but it takes such bizarre forms that it causes not only surprise, but also fear, and even horror. Most of these creatures live at a depth of 500 to 6500 meters.

Deep-sea fish can withstand the enormous pressure of the water at the bottom of the ocean, and it is such that the fish that live in the upper layers of the water would be crushed. When relatively deep-sea perciformes are lifted, their swim bladder turns outward due to a drop in pressure. It is he who helps them to stay at a constant depth and adapt to the pressure of water on the body. Deep-sea fish constantly pump gas into it so that the bubble does not flatten from external pressure. In order to ascend, the gas from the swim bladder must be released, otherwise, when the water pressure decreases, it will stretch greatly. However, gas is released from the swim bladder slowly.
One of the features of real deep-sea fish is precisely its absence. When rising up, they die, but without visible changes.

AT deep sea trenches An unknown species of fish has been discovered in the Atlantic Ocean near Rio de Janeiro, which can be considered a living fossil. Named Hydrolagus matallanasi by Brazilian scientists, this chimera fish has remained virtually unchanged over the past 150 million years.

.

Along with sharks and rays, chimeras belong to the cartilaginous order, but they are the most primitive and may well be considered living fossils, since their ancestors appeared on Earth 350 million years ago. They were living witnesses of all the cataclysms on the planet and plowed the ocean a hundred million years before the appearance of the first dinosaurs on Earth."
Fish up to 40 centimeters long live on great depths, in giant depressions up to 700-800 meters deep, so until now it could not be detected. Her skin is equipped with sensitive nerve endings, with which she captures the slightest movement in absolute darkness. Despite the deep sea habitat, the chimera is not blind, it has huge eyes.

Blind deep sea fish

Victims of appetite.
The black live-throat fish, living at depths of 700 meters and below, has adapted to absorb prey, which can be 2 times longer and 10 times heavier than itself. This is possible due to the strongly stretching stomach of the black livethroat.


Sometimes the prey is so large that it begins to decompose before it is digested, and the gases released in this process push the living throat to the surface of the ocean.
Crookshanks has amazing ability to the frequent swallowing of living creatures exceeding their own size. At the same time, he, like a mitten, stretches on prey. For example, in the stomach of an 8-centimeter giant is placed a 14-centimeter "lunch"

Super-predator of the deep sea.
Bathysaurus sounds like a dinosaur, which is not far from the truth. Bathysaurus ferox is a deep-sea lizard that lives in the tropical and subtropical seas of the world, at a depth of 600-3,500 m. Its length reaches 50-65 cm. It is considered the deepest-living super predator in the world and everything that comes in its path , is immediately devoured. Once the jaws of this devilish fish snap shut, it's game over. Even her tongue is studded with razor-sharp fangs. It is hardly possible to look at her face without a shudder, and it is even more difficult for her to find a mate. But this does not bother this formidable underwater inhabitant too much, since he has both male and female genitals.

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 prey, so they do it easier - they swallow it whole ... even if it is larger than the hunter.

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 species of anglerfish, such as ceraria, reach almost half a meter, others - melanocet or borofrin 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.


Refrigerator in the stomach. 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.
Alepisaurus, swift predators, possess 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. Alepizaurs are 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.

Do you think this monkfish has legs? I hasten to disappoint you. These are not legs at all, but two males that have stuck to a female. The fact is that at great depths and in the complete absence of light it is very difficult to find a partner. Therefore, the male monkfish, as soon as he finds a female, immediately bites into her side. These embraces will never be broken. Later, it fuses with the body of the female, loses all unnecessary organs, merges with her circulatory system and becomes only a source of sperm.

It is a fish with a transparent head. What for? At depth, as you know, there is very little light. The fish has developed defense mechanism, her eyes are in the center of her head so they can't be hurt. In order to see evolution awarded this fish with a transparent head. The two green spheres are the eyes.


Smallmouth macropinna belongs to a group of deep-sea fish that have developed a unique anatomical structure to match your lifestyle. These fish are extremely fragile, and fish specimens that have been taken by fishermen and explorers are deformed due to pressure differences.
Most unique characteristic of this fish is its soft, transparent head and barrel-shaped eyes. Usually fixed upside down with green "lens caps" to filter out sunlight, the eyes of the Smallmouth Macropinna can rotate and retract.
In fact, what appear to be eyes are sensory organs. Real eyes are located under the canopy of the forehead.

Crawling one-legged
Norwegian scientists from the Institute marine research in Bergen, they announced 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 it does not look like any of the marine life known to scientists.

10994 meters. Bottom Mariana Trench. The complete absence of light, the water pressure is 1072 times higher than the surface pressure, 1 ton 74 kilograms presses on 1 square centimeter.

Hellish conditions. But there is life even here. For example, at the very bottom they found small fish, up to 30 centimeters long, similar to flounder.

One of the deepest-sea fishes is bassogigus.

Scary teeth of the underwater world


The large-headed daggertooth is a large (up to 1.5 m long), not numerous inhabitant 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. Widely distributed in the subtropical and temperate regions of the Pacific Ocean, in summer months it penetrates as far north as 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. characteristic feature external structure daggertooth 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 bottom - small, subulate, directed backwards and not exceeding 5–6 mm.

And these creatures are like from a horror movie about aliens. This is what they look like under high magnification polychaete worms.

Another strange inhabitant of the depths is the Drop Fish.
This fish lives off the coast of Australia and Tasmania at a depth of about 800 m. Given the depth of the water in which it swims, the drop fish does not have a swim bladder, like most fish, since it is not very effective with strong water pressure. Her skin is made up of a gelatinous mass that is slightly denser than water, allowing her to float above the ocean floor without much hassle. The fish grows up to 30 cm in length, feeding mainly sea ​​urchins and shellfish that float by.
Despite being inedible, this fish is often caught along with other prey such as lobsters and crabs, putting it at risk of extinction.

Distinctive external characteristic fish drops is her unhappy expression.

Piglet squid is just an outlet in the world of deep-sea monsters. Such a cute one.

And in conclusion - a video about deep-sea creatures.

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 - a family of deep-sea fish of the anglerfish order, found in tropical and sub tropical waters world ocean. 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 active.

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 Meshkoroty family. 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" a sackcloth can go without food for a long time.

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 the presence of 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

The sable fish is a deep-sea food fish that lives in the northern part of the Pacific Ocean, including 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 take part in the feeding process. In complete darkness, they would not have helped. The fish use the long front pectoral fins to find 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 on a record for bony fish depth - 8 370 m. in the deep-water trench "Puerto Rico" in the Atlantic Ocean.
Unlike their closest relatives - fish from the Brotula family, errors 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". It's not big 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 from the characteristic appearance 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 seas and oceans occupy more than half of the area of ​​our planet, but they are still shrouded in secrets for mankind. We strive to conquer space and are looking for extraterrestrial civilizations, but at the same time, only 5% of the world's oceans have been explored by people. But even these data are enough to be horrified by what creatures live deep under water, where sunlight does not penetrate.

1. Common Hauliod (Chauliodus sloani)

The Howliod family has 6 species of deep-sea fish, but the most common of them is the common Howliod. These fish live in almost all waters of the world's oceans, with the exception of cold waters. northern seas and the Arctic Ocean.

Howliodas got their name from Greek words"chaulios" is an open mouth, and "odous" is a tooth. Indeed, in these relatively small fish (about 30 cm long), teeth can grow up to 5 centimeters, which is why their mouth never closes, creating a terrible grin. Sometimes these fish are called sea vipers.

Howliods live at a depth of 100 to 4000 meters. At night, they prefer to rise closer to the surface of the water, and during the day they descend into the very abyss of the ocean. Thus, during the day, fish make huge migrations of several kilometers. With the help of special photophores located on the body of the howliod, they can communicate in the dark with each other.

On the dorsal fin viper fish has one large photophore, with which it lures its prey directly to its mouth. After that, with a sharp bite of needle-sharp teeth, howliodas paralyze the prey, leaving it no chance of salvation. The diet mainly consists of small fish and crustaceans. According to unreliable data, some individuals of howliods can live up to 30 years or more.

2. Longhorn sabertooth (Anoplogaster cornuta)

The longhorn sabertooth is another fearsome deep-sea predatory fish found in all four oceans. Although the sabertooth looks like a monster, it grows to a very modest size (about 15 centimeters in a dyne). The head of a fish with a large mouth occupies almost half the length of the body.

The long-horned sabertooth got its name from the long and sharp lower fangs, which are the largest in relation to the length of the body among all fish known to science. The terrifying appearance of the sabertooth earned him the unofficial name - "monster fish".

The color of adults can vary from dark brown to black. Young representatives look completely different. They have a light gray color and long spikes on their heads. The sabertooth is one of the deepest-sea fish in the world, in rare cases they descend to a depth of 5 kilometers or more. The pressure at these depths is enormous, and the water temperature is near zero. There is catastrophically little food here, so these predators hunt for the first thing that gets in their way.

3. Dragonfish (Grammatostomias flagellibarba)

The size of the deep-sea dragon fish absolutely does not fit with its ferocity. These predators, which reach a length of no more than 15 centimeters, can eat prey two or even three times its size. The dragon fish lives in tropical zones World Ocean at a depth of up to 2000 meters. The fish has a large head and a mouth equipped with many sharp teeth. Like the Howliod, the dragonfish has its own prey bait, which is a long, photophore-tipped whisker located on the chin of the fish. The principle of hunting is the same as that of all deep-sea individuals. With the help of a photophore, a predator lures its prey to the maximum close quarters, and then with a sharp movement inflicts a deadly bite.

4. Deep sea anglerfish (Lophius piscatorius)

The deep-sea angler is rightfully the ugliest fish in existence. In total, there are about 200 species of anglerfish, some of which can grow up to 1.5 meters and weigh up to 30 kilograms. Because of the terrible appearance and bad temper, this fish was nicknamed the sea-devil. Deep-sea anglerfish live everywhere at a depth of 500 to 3000 meters. The fish has a dark brown color, a large flat head with many spikes. The devil's huge mouth is studded with sharp and long teeth, curved inwards.

Deep-sea anglerfish have pronounced sexual dimorphism. Females are ten times larger than males and are predators. The females have a rod with a fluorescent protrusion at the end to lure fish. Anglerfish spend most of their time on the seabed, burrowing into sand and silt. Due to the huge mouth, this fish can swallow whole prey, exceeding its size by 2 times. That is, hypothetically, a large anglerfish can eat a person; Fortunately, there have never been such cases in history.

5. Saccopharyngiformes

Probably the strangest inhabitant of the sea depths can be called a bagworm or, as it is also called, a large-mouthed pelican. Due to its abnormally huge mouth with a bag and a tiny skull in relation to the length of the body, the baghort looks more like some kind of alien creature. Some individuals can reach two meters in length.

In fact, sac-like fish belong to the class of ray-finned fish, but there are not too many similarities between these monsters and cute fish that live in warm sea backwaters. Scientists believe that the appearance of these creatures has changed many thousands of years ago due to the deep-sea lifestyle. Baghorts do not have gill rays, ribs, scales and fins, and the body has an oblong shape with a luminous process on the tail. If it were not for the large mouth, then the sackcloth could easily be confused with an eel.

Mesh shorts live at depths from 2000 to 5000 meters in three world oceans, except for the Arctic. Since there is very little food at such depths, sackworms have adapted to long breaks in meals that can last more than one month. These fish feed on crustaceans and other deep-sea counterparts, mostly swallowing their prey whole.

6. Giant squid (Architeuthis dux)

The elusive giant squid, known to science as Architeuthis Dux, is the largest mollusc in the world and can supposedly reach a length of 18 meters and weigh half a ton. On the this moment a living giant squid has not yet fallen into human hands. Until 2004, there were no documented cases of meeting with a live giant squid at all, and the general idea of ​​\u200b\u200bthese mysterious creatures was formed only from the remains thrown ashore or caught in the nets of fishermen. Architeutis live at a depth of up to 1 kilometer in all oceans. In addition to their gigantic size, these creatures have the largest eyes among living beings (up to 30 centimeters in diameter).

So in 1887, the largest specimen in history, 17.4 meters long, was thrown onto the coast of New Zealand. In the following century, only two large dead representatives of the giant squid were found - 9.2 and 8.6 meters. In 2006, the Japanese scientist Tsunemi Kubodera still managed to capture on camera a live female 7 meters long in natural environment habitat at a depth of 600 meters. The squid was lured to the surface by a small bait squid, but an attempt to bring a live specimen aboard the vessel was unsuccessful - the squid died from numerous injuries.

Giant squids are dangerous predators, and the only natural enemy for them are adult sperm whales. There are at least two reported cases of squid and sperm whale fighting. In the first, the sperm whale won, but soon died, suffocated by the giant tentacles of the mollusk. The second fight took place off the coast of South Africa, then a giant squid fought with a baby sperm whale, and after an hour and a half fight, he still killed the whale.

7. Giant isopod (Bathynomus giganteus)

The giant isopod, known to science as Bathynomus giganteus, is the largest crustacean species. The average size deep-sea isopod ranges from 30 centimeters, but the largest recorded specimen weighed 2 kilograms and was 75 centimeters long. In appearance, giant isopods are similar to woodlice, and similarly giant squid are the result of deep-sea gigantism. These crayfish live at a depth of 200 to 2500 meters, preferring to burrow into the silt.

The body of these terrible creatures is covered with hard plates that act as a shell. In case of danger, crayfish can curl into a ball and become inaccessible to predators. By the way, isopods are also predators and can eat a few small deep-sea fish and sea cucumbers. Powerful jaws and strong armor make the isopod a formidable foe. Although giant crayfish love to eat live food, they often have to eat the remains of shark prey that fall from the upper layers of the ocean.

8. Latimeria (Latimeria chalumnae)

The coelacanth or coelacanth is a large deep-sea fish whose discovery in 1938 was one of the most important zoological finds of the 20th century. Despite its unattractive appearance, this fish is notable for the fact that for 400 million years it has not changed its appearance and body structure. In fact, this unique relic fish is one of the oldest living creatures on planet Earth, which existed long before the advent of dinosaurs.

Latimeria lives at a depth of up to 700 meters in the waters Indian Ocean. The length of the fish can reach 1.8 meters with a weight of more than 100 kilograms, and the body has a beautiful blue tint. Since the coelacanth is very slow, it prefers to hunt at great depths, where there is no competition with more fast predators. These fish can swim backwards or belly up. Despite the fact that the meat of the coeliant is inedible, it is often the object of poaching among local residents. Currently ancient fish is under threat of extinction.

9. Goblin shark or mitzekurina (Mitsukurina owstoni)

The deep-sea goblin shark, or as it is also called the goblin shark, is the most poorly understood shark to date. This species lives in the Atlantic and Indian Ocean at a depth of up to 1300 meters. The largest specimen was 3.8 meters long and weighed about 200 kilograms.

The goblin shark got its name due to its creepy appearance. Mitzekurin has mobile jaws that move outward when bitten. The goblin shark was first accidentally caught by fishermen in 1898, and since then 40 more specimens of this fish have been caught.

10. Infernal Vampire (Vampyroteuthis infernalis)

Another relic representative sea ​​abyss is the only detritivorous cephalopod that has resemblance, both with squid and octopus. The infernal vampire got its unusual name due to the red body and eyes, which, however, depending on the lighting, can be blue color. Despite their terrifying appearance, these strange creatures grow only up to 30 centimeters and, unlike other cephalopods, eat only plankton.

The hellish vampire's body is covered in luminous photophores, which create bright flashes of light that scare away enemies. In case of exceptional danger, these small mollusks twist their tentacles along the body, becoming like a ball with spikes. Hell vampires live at depths up to 900 meters, and can perfectly exist in water with a critical oxygen level for other animals of 3% or less.

Incredible Facts

Perhaps we should stop looking for aliens on other planets, since enough lives in the ocean amazing and strange life forms more like aliens.

4 Goblin Shark

The goblin shark is rarely seen on the surface, as it mostly inhabits at a depth of 270 to 1300 meters.

It is easily recognizable by its elongated and flattened muzzle with retractable jaws with teeth as sharp as nails. These sharks reach 3-4 meters in length, but can grow more than 6 meters.

5 Sea Spider

If you thought that there were no spiders in the ocean, you were greatly mistaken. However, sea spiders have nothing to do with terrestrial spiders, despite their superficial resemblance. These are not spiders and not even arachnids, but chelicerae - a subtype arthropods.

They live in the seas, especially in the Mediterranean and Caribbean, as well as in the Arctic and South Arctic oceans. There is more 1300 species of sea spiders, ranging in size from 1-10 mm to 90 cm.

6. Pompeii worm

Pompeii worms ( Alvinella pompejana) live in very hot water near the hydrothermal vents of the Pacific Ocean and can withstand extreme temperature and pressure.

7. Drop fish

Drop fish ( Psychrolutes marcidus) although it is considered the ugliest creature in the world, looks like a perfectly normal fish in its normal environment at a depth of 600-1200 meters.

At this depth, the pressure is 120 times higher than at the surface. Unlike other fish, it does not have a swim bladder, skeleton or muscles, which allows it to swim at depth. If you raise it to the surface, it acquires drooping and dull look.

Sea creatures

8 Bobbit Polychaete Worm

Purple Australian polychaete worm, also known as the Bobbit worm, can grow to 3 meters long.

He hunts his prey in the most diabolical way, burrowing into the seabed, leaving a small part of his body on the surface and waiting for the victim. Using its antennae, the worm senses passing prey, quickly captures it with its strong muscular throat, and splits the fish in two.

9. Jellyfish "flower hat"

These jellyfish, with beautiful multi-colored tentacles emanating from a translucent umbrella, feed on small fish and sometimes on each other.

They can increase or decrease in size dependent on food supplies.

10. Seahorse-rag-picker

These slow moving fish are related to seahorses. They rely mainly on their seaweed-like appendages, thanks to which the rag-pickers camouflage and protect themselves from predators.

11. Siphonophores

Siphonophores are animal colonies, consisting of individual representatives called zooids, connected by a common trunk. Such a colony can reach several meters in length.

12. Crown jellyfish

This atoll jellyfish or crown jellyfish is very similar to a UFO, because, like most jellyfish, it does not have a digestive, respiratory, circulatory and central nervous system.

She lives deep 1000 - 4000 meters where no sunlight can reach. Being frightened, this jellyfish "connects" bioluminescent blue lights that spin like flashing lights on a police car.

13. Pike blenny

These fish usually hide inside shells on the sea floor. These are small (up to 30 cm), but ferocious fish with a large mouth and aggressive behavior.

When two pike blennies fight for territory, they press their wide mouths against each other as if in a kiss. This helps them determine who is bigger.

14. Glass squid

There is about 60 kinds glass squid or crachniids. Most of them, as the name implies, are transparent, which helps them to disguise themselves.

15. Pteropods

Winged mollusks are small sea ​​snails, which swim in the water on two legs in the form of wings. They are born males but become females when they reach a large size.

16. Sea cucumber

These floating deep sea cucumbers are transparent so you can see their digestive system.

deep sea dwellers

17. Squid-worm

Scientists first discovered this deep-sea creature in 2007. It was nicknamed the squid worm because of 10 tentacles on the head, each of which is longer than the entire body. He uses them to collect food.

18. Lobster formidable claws

This species lobster Dinochelus ausubeli, which means "terrible pincers", was discovered at a depth 300 meters in the Philippines in 2007. It reaches a length of only 3 cm, and its toothy claws are the only frightening feature.

19. Venus flytrap anemone

This sea anemone Actinoscyphia aurelia, was named after venus flytrap plants because of the similar shape and way of eating. She folds her disc in half, trapping food and digesting it with her mouth located in the center of the disc.

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. 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

Fans of marine fauna and divers call the colorful inhabitants of the Pacific and Indian Ocean so. 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 when combined into 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.