25 Amazing and Bizarre Deep Sea Creatures
Some cool and unusual living organisms in the depth of the sea.
Modern research has shown that, despite the pitch-blackness of the water, the freezing cold, and the crushing pressure, some amazing and bizarre creatures have adapted to life in the depths of the sea.
Photos courtesy of Wikipedia
Lionfish (Pterois)
This Russell lionfish’s bright colors act as a warning. Hidden behind its fin, the fish has spines that can inject a deadly poison into attacker. The lionfish is also known as the Turkey Fish or Dragon Fish. They are notable for their extremely long and separated spines, and have a generally striped appearance, red, brown, orange, yellow, black, maroon, or white.
Vampire Squid (Vampyroteuthis infernalis)
Literally means “vampire squid from hell,” is a small, deep-sea cirrate cephalopod found throughout the temperate and tropical oceans of the world. Unique retractile sensory filaments justify the Vampire Squid’s placement in its own order. It shares similarities with both squid and octopuses. As a phylogenetic relict it is the only known surviving member of its order.
Japanese Spider Crab (Macrocheira kaempferi)
This is the largest known arthropod; fully grown it can reach a leg span of almost 4 m (13 ft), a body size of up to 37 cm (15 inches) and a weight of up to 20 kg (44 lb). The crab’s natural habitat is on the bottom of the Pacific Ocean (some 300 to 400 m deep) around Japan, where it feeds on dead animals and shellfish. It is believed to have a life expectancy of up to 100 years
Icefish (Notothenioidei)
The Antarctic icefish belong to the perciform and are the largely endemic, dominant fish taxa in the cold continental shelf waters surrounding Antarctica. The majority of Notothenioids live at seawater temperatures between of -2°C and 4°C. It is possible to have seawater temperatures below the freezing point of fresh water (0°C) because dissolved salts lower the freezing point of a solution in a colligate manner. Antarctic icefish has no red blood cells. Direct absorption from seawater affords sufficient oxygen for its slow metabolism.
Lion’s Mane Jellyfish (Cyanea capillata)
The lion’s mane jellyfish gets its name from its thick mane-like mass tentacles and its tawny color. The stinging tentacles may be up to 33 ft or 10 m long. It is the largest known species of jellyfish. The Arctic Lion’s mane jellyfish is one of the longest known animals; the largest recorded specimen had a bell (body) with a diameter of 2.3 m (7 feet 6 inches) and the tentacles reached 36.5 m (120 feet). It was found washed up on the shore of Massachusetts Bay in 1870.
Toothy Grin - Seawolf (Anarhichas lupus)
Wolf fish eat sea urchins, which they crush with their large teeth. The Seawolf, also known as the Atlantic wolf fish, Atlantic catfish, wolf eel, or sea cat, is a marine fish, the largest of the family Anarchididae.
Tripod Fish (Bathypterois grallator)
The tripod fish gets its name from the three extra-long fins extending from its body. It uses these like stilts to stand on the bottom, keeping its body just above the surface of seafloor. Then it sits and waits to ambush any passing prey. When the prey comes within range, the tripod fish pounces on it.
Giant Sea Spider (Colossendeis)
The giant sea spider is found at depths of about 16,404 ft or 5,000 meters. It moves over the soft ooze of the deep-sea bed on its very long legs. It feeds on the juices of worms and other soft-bodied invertebrates, which it sucks out with its proboscis (feeding tube).
Viperfish (Chauliodus)
This is a deepwater fish with long, needle-like teeth and hinged lower jaws. They grow to lengths of 30 to 60 cm (12 - 24 in).
Rattail Fish - Giant Grenadier (Albatrossa pectoralis)
The giant grenadier is a very large rattail, the only member of the genus Albatrossia, found in the north Pacific from northern Japan to the Okhotsk and Bering seas, east to the Gulf of Alaska, and south to northern Baja California in Mexico, at depths of between 140 and 3,500 m. Its length is up to 2.1 m.
King Crab (Lithodes maja)
Many species of king crab are found in cool waters around the world. Most lives on sandy bottoms at around 600 meters deep.
Goblin Shark (Mitsukurina owstoni)
This is a deep-sea shark, the sole living species in the family Mitsukurinidae. The most distinctive characteristic of the goblin shark is the unorthodox shape of its head. It has a long, trowel-shaped, beak-like rostrum or snout, much longer than other sharks’ snouts. Some other distinguishing characteristics of the shark are the color of its body, which is mostly pink, and its long, protrusible jaws.
Flounder (Paralichthys)
These fish range in total length about from 34cm to approx. 55cm. These fish are laterally flattened bottom dwellers with both eyes on one side. They have distinct coloration such as spots, irregular blotches and rings on one side of their body with the other being pale.
Loose-Jawed fish (Aristostomias grimaldii)
This 5 inch (13 cm) fish is found in the Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea. It has large, sharp teeth.
Tulip-shaped Glass Sponge
Tulip-shaped glass sponge grows to about 16 in (40 cm) high and is raised off the seafloor by long stalks of twisted silica. The silica “skeletons” are just like fiberglass.
Venus Flower Basket (Euplectella aspergillum)
Venus flower basket is a type of glass sponge. The Venus’ Flower Basket is the only Hexactenellida in the phylum Porifera to be used in hobbyists’ aquariums.
Halosaur (Halosauropsis macrochir)
The Halosaur is another type of bottom-dwelling fish. It is about 6 ft 6 in (2 m) long, with a sharply pointed snout and a tapering body. The halosaur is thought to use its snout to dislodge invertebrates from the seabed. It also eats deep-sea squid.
Gulper Eel (Eurypharynx pelecanoides)
The gulper eel has huge, pouch-like jaws. These can open wide enough, and its stomach stretch far enough, for it to swallow fish much bigger than itself. The gulper eel can unhinge its jaws, opening its cavernous mouth even wider. This fish grows to a length of 2 ft (60 cm). It is found at depths below 6,500 ft (1,998 m).
Deep-sea Anglerfish (Lasiognathus sacestoma)
The deep-sea angler fish has a long fishing-rod fin hanging down over its mouth, with a blob of light at the end. Small fish mistake the light for food and swim straight toward it - right into the angler fish huge, wide-open mouth.
Female Deep-sea Anglerfish and Attached Male (Linophryne orgyresca)
The tiny parasitic male of this angler species attaches itself permanently to its mate’s abdomen. The female reaches a length of about 3 inches (8 cm).
Current Crustacean - Squat Lobster (Munidopsis tridentatus)
Squat lobster is a vent crustacean that is completely blind, with no eyes in its eye sockets. It scavenges for scraps of food in the currents stirred up by gushing hot vent water.
Orange Sea Pen (Ptilosarcus gurneyi)
Sea pens are soft corals to stony, reef-building corals. They are named after old-fashioned quill pens. Sea pens can reach a height of 5 ft (1.5 m).
Underwater Dandelion (siphonophore)
Scientists discovered at the vent sites an odd creature called siphonophore. It looks like a dandelion, but is in fact related to the jellyfish. It hangs just above the seabed, held in place by fine, thread-like tentacles.
Flying Gurnard (Dactylopterus volitans)
The flying gurnard is a marine fish notable for their large pectoral fins. They have also been observed to “walk” along sandy sea floors while looking for crustaceans and other small invertebrates by using their pelvic fins.
Clownfish (Amphiprion)
Clownfish live among the tentacles of sea anemones. A mucus coating protects the fish from tentacles’ sting.
For more amazing marine creatures see
World’s Most Brightly Colored Fishes
Spirobranchus Giganteus: Seabed’s Delightful Sites in Connection with Christmas
10 Amazing Sea Creatures
Giant Creatures of the Deep-Sea
Beauty and the Beast: 20 Most Venomous Fishes in the World
Amazing Flying Sea Creatures
Waterworld Creatures With Wings
Aquatic Animals with the Most Prominent and Longest Snouts
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33 Responses to “25 Amazing and Bizarre Deep Sea Creatures”
On July 27, 2008 at 3:25 am
another great article!
On July 27, 2008 at 3:57 am
very nice, well reseached article. am sure this will be included in the hot content list.
On July 27, 2008 at 4:16 am
I see you take criticism very hard. I’ll repeat this again since you deleted my last comment. Learn English before writing again.
On July 27, 2008 at 4:18 am
Another hit article I am sure! I wonder, if these creatures could talk, whether they would find us as odd to look at as we find them? “ooh, two eyes, yuck!” :-))
On July 27, 2008 at 4:33 am
at # 3,you’re so funny,you have the guts to criticized others but look at your own grammar -I’ll repeat this again since you deleted my last comment-it’s redundant. it only shows that you’re just jealous to the writer of this article
On July 27, 2008 at 7:47 am
Very informative and educational post. Thanks bro.
On July 27, 2008 at 2:02 pm
As always, good job.
On July 30, 2008 at 9:30 pm
thank you very much to your comments,whether they’re negative or positive they’re well appreciated
On August 21, 2008 at 10:33 am
really cool.
but to #4, don’t fish have 2 eyes?
On August 21, 2008 at 10:47 am
What about the spanish dancer (hexabronchus sanguineus)? They’re GORGEOUS.
On August 21, 2008 at 11:34 am
Wouldn’t it be cool to eat some of those can you imagine to be the only or few people that have eaten a deep sea creature, I wonder what they taste like!!!
On August 21, 2008 at 1:13 pm
They taste like Chicken!
On August 21, 2008 at 2:10 pm
Merc,
We eat deep sea fish all the time. Orange Ruffie and Chilean Sea Bass are both considered delicacies. Each year we trawl more and more fish out of the sea and if we don’t give them time to repopulate, the fishery is going to collapse. It takes them 20 year to reach reproductive age and they live up to 120 years. So next time you see some of these deep sea fish on the menu, try the chicken!
On August 21, 2008 at 4:43 pm
Lovely article Norbert and well researched.
On August 21, 2008 at 7:38 pm
Very Cool!
Who cares if he writes perfectly?
Enjoy the pictures okay? and gather the basic information
oh and BT
well said, although I’d avoid the chicken too
;D
Leave the animals alone altogether!
On August 21, 2008 at 9:52 pm
LMAO! Poor Nemo!!
Btw, great article ^^
On August 22, 2008 at 12:25 pm
Nice article and great pictures as well.
On August 22, 2008 at 12:26 pm
Awesome article, esp.that I’m also into waters and love the species that lives in under.Well, speaking of species somehow I bet you’ve never experienced either one of these events. Though you may have walked on the beach or done some ocean kayaking before. I found this one in clash a side-by-side videos entitled Fun at the Beach! Up from the Depths
On August 22, 2008 at 12:28 pm
Btw,here’s the link of the said video http://clashorama.com/
On August 22, 2008 at 2:18 pm
I´m just wondering about the Flounder… They aren´t deep sea fish are they? I mean, you can easily catch them using a net in the the Baltic sea of the cost of Finland (yes i´m Finnish). I realize that for example that the fish that are habitues to Japan are easily caught there, but they (what I understood) are still living pretty deep. They taste grate btw
And if you didn´t know, the flounder when it´s born is born with one eye one each side of the body, and (if i remember right) swim upright as “normal” fish do
On August 22, 2008 at 8:09 pm
wowwowowowowowowow
On August 25, 2008 at 2:53 am
How long did you stay underwater? Great educational piece!!
On August 25, 2008 at 10:31 am
I loved everything about this article. I really like the picture of the Toothy grin Sea Wolf. I found this fish to be rather adorable and cute. I also liked the photos of The Orange Sea Pen and The Gulper Eel. They have such unique shapes, that are very cool. I learned so many things about fish that I never knew before. I never knew that the Squat Lobster was blind and was born without eyesockets. Up until now, I always though that all living creatures were born with sight. Through reading this unique article, I had the feeling of actually being there observing the entire scenes of the fish as they were happening.
Keep up the good work. I also have work published on Triond website, published under my pen name Joanna Maharis which is also my User name.
Sincerely,
Kiki Stamatiou (Joanna Maharis)
On August 28, 2008 at 8:12 am
I particulary enjoyed the more deep sea fish. I have always been facinated by things out of my reach. And to a comment made by Benny you’re right. About the flounder I mean.
Scincerly,
Frankie
On October 17, 2008 at 6:13 am
@ #3 Sally J.
People like you should never propagate, please die in a fire with your retarded comments.
I really enjoyed this article, keep up the good work mate!
On October 31, 2008 at 6:15 pm
Those are all so cool! I also just discovered the TickleMe Plant!
It’s that plant everyone is talking about that MOVES when you Tickle IT! I found it hard to believe myself until I ordered the kit. Yea you do need some patience but in just a few week I tickled the tiny leaves and they really did close up! Even the branches droop. I Found it at http;//www.ticklemeplant.com
On November 2, 2008 at 6:38 am
Hei, man, it’s very usefull and cool … nice article .. totally
On November 17, 2008 at 11:43 pm
wow
On November 18, 2008 at 7:13 pm
There is something fishy about this list…
On November 23, 2008 at 5:42 pm
these fish are very creapy
On November 23, 2008 at 5:43 pm
i like the very first fish
On March 9, 2009 at 1:46 pm
It was very very ridiculously horrible.you suck monkey balls
On June 2, 2009 at 4:03 pm
I need 4 SMALL deep sea animals please. HELP ME!
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