From a secret surveillance drone that crash landed in the sea to a fish that looks suspiciously like
a hilarious part of the male anatomy, here are the nine strangest things ever found underwater!
9. SCULPTURE MUSEUM
Opened in 2017 off Lanzarote, the northernmost island of the Canary islands,
Museo Atlántico is the first underwater art museum in both Europe and the Atlantic Ocean.
Filled with over 200 life-sized sculptures representing refugees lost at sea,
schoolchildren, businessmen, modern society’s affinity for “smart” technology,
fantastical human-plant hybrids, and more, the submerged park sits nearly 50 feet
(15 meters) below the water’s surface. Why would anyone put something like this underwater though?
British sculptor Jason deCaires Taylor, who began sinking his work into place at the site in 2006,
carries out his work with the goal of forcing people to re-examine the sea,
according to The Guardian. Speaking with the publication in 2016,
he emphasized how being in the water affords us freedom of movement that we don’t get on land,
enabling us to examine things from a different perspective.
“You’re able to imagine much more, not being so rooted to gravity,” he explained,
adding: “And because you’re making contact with water, you’re almost physically connected.”
Designed to be environmentally friendly, pH-neutral, and to last for hundreds of years,
Taylor’s sculptures become “living” over time by attracting coral growth and large schools of fish.
Museo Atlántico is open to certified divers for tours. Would you go for a swim at the museum?
8. MYSTIFYING BLOB
While exploring Norway’s western coast several years ago, divers encountered a huge jelly-like
orb that they couldn’t explain. Measuring over three feet (1 meter) wide and sitting between the
seafloor and surface, the bizarre translucent blob had a dark streak through the center.
Since 1985, nearly 100 similar sightings have been reported near Norway and in the
Mediterranean Sea. And until recently, scientists were just as perplexed as
anyone else who knew about them but didn’t know what they were.
A DNA analysis finally put the mystery to rest this year, when researchers identified
the blobs as the seldom-seen egg sacs of Illex coindetii or the shortfin squid,
a common species that dwells in the Mediterranean Sea and the northern Atlantic Ocean. Each orb may
contain as many as hundreds of thousands of eggs suspended in a slowly dissolving mucus,
according to researchers. That sounds disgusting, though, right? A dissolving mucus?
The findings mark the first time scientists have identified I. coindetii’s egg sacs in the wild,
despite having known about the species for over 180 years. Speaking with Live Science,
lead study author Halldis Ringvold said that the team also observed squid embryos during
four different stages of development and the sphere’s changing consistency,
“from firm and transparent to rupturing and opaque,” throughout the process.
Shortfin squids hail from the Ommastrephidae group of squids, who produce the large orbs to
keep their eggs buoyant and protect their unborn young from predators. Some experts suspected right
off the bat, when the blobs were first seen off Norway, that they were the products of
Ommastrephids. But proof remained scarce until 2019, when divers collected tissue samples
from four of the rarely spotted orbs, making their contents available for further analysis.
7. FOREIGN SURVEILLANCE DRONE
While working in the Yellow Sea off the eastern coast of China just north of Shanghai recently,
a fisherman felt a strong pull on his net. He hauled it in thinking he had caught a large amount
of fish, only to discover that he had snagged a black, oddly-shaped device measuring about
10-foot-long (3 meters). Shaped somewhat like a surfboard, it was equipped with 10 horizontal
fins and an array of antennas and solar panels. Clearly it was no sea creature! But what was it?
Not knowing what it was, the man turned the object over to local authorities.
Photos show that it strongly resembles the Wave Glider reconnaissance drone used by
several militaries, including the U.S. Navy and the Royal Navy. It was a robot used for spying!
The discovery is not only strange but alarming,
as these devices are useful for obtaining oceanographic data for
submarine and anti-submarine warfare. Of course, military commentator Song
Zhongping called the surveillance drone “a great threat to China’s national security.”
But China is apparently just as guilty of using this type of equipment to monitor other countries.
Last year, an autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) resembling the Chinese-built Sea Wing
glider was found off Selayar Island, Indonesia. Unsurprisingly, nobody came forward to claim it.
But you may be surprised to learn that the discovery of unclaimed surveillance devices
is somewhat frequent, or at least not as unusual as one would think. On the U.K.’s Isle of Tiree
in October 2020, Her Majesty’s Coast Guard (HMCG) collected a device much like the Wave
Glider recently found in China. Of course, no governments owned up to it being theirs.
What would you do if you found a spy plane or surveillance drone over your house? Would you
try to throw rocks at it and knock it down? Or even shoot a gun at it?
Tell me what you’d do in the comments below. Then remember to subscribe to
American Eye for more wild videos just like this one!
6. ‘MAGNIFICENT ALIEN’ SPONGE
During an expedition in 2017, scientists aboard the National Ocean and Atmospheric
Administration (NOAA) vessel Okeanos Explorer discovered a seemingly surreal
seascape of strange-looking sea sponges deep in the ocean, about
850 miles (1,370 km) southwest of Hawaii. They nicknamed the scene “The Forest of the Weird.”
But one stood out among the rest for its alien-like features resembling an elongated head,
a long, thin neck, and huge eyes, earning it the nickname the “E.T.
Sponge” after the alien that it resembles. After going through the long and complicated
process of identifying it as a newly discovered sponge genus and species,
which involved comparing it against known similar specimens,
they gave it the scientific name Advhena magnifica, which means “magnificent alien.”
Postdoctoral researcher Dr. Cristiana Castello Branco explained in an NOAA interview that
scientists know very little about the diverse genus that the magnificent alien comes from,
and very little about the vast array of deep-sea sponges that exist throughout the world’s oceans,
even though new ones are discovered fairly often. She added that because
sponges have significant effects on the marine ecosystem, learning more
about them is imperative when it comes to future environmental management decisions.
5. RARE DEEP-SEA SQUID
The deep sea is arguably the most mysterious and under-studied part of our planet,
due partially to its inaccessibility. There’s twice as much ocean as there
is land on Planet Earth! But as technology advances, scientists are increasingly able to
explore this hard-to-reach environment and are making more and more fascinating discoveries.
In a recently published study, researchers described their encounters with a rarely-seen
deep sea bigfin squid (Magnapinna). The specimens were spotted during two separate voyages in the
waters of the Great Australian Bight in 2015 and 2017, enabling the team to capture footage of the
elusive creature in Australian waters for the first time. Worldwide, there are only about a
dozen confirmed sightings of bigfin squid, which live miles below the ocean’s surface.
Measuring up to 23 feet (7 meters) long,
these deep-sea dwellers are known for their long arms and tentacles.
The team spent hundreds of hours processing footage gathered during
the voyages at depths between 3,100 and 10,700 feet (946-3,258 meters). Altogether,
they counted five bigfin squid sightings in close proximity to one another.
The findings are important for learning more about the little understood creatures,
according to Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation
(CSIRO) scientist Deborah Osterhage, who spoke with The Guardian.
Describing the squid as “distinctive” and “otherworldly,” Osterhage said that this
marked the first time scientists have been able to precisely measure them,
remarking that “The body was only about 15 cm [6 in].”
4. TRAIN GRAVEYARD
While using a magnetometer to map the ocean floor in 1985, a diver named Paul Hepler
discovered a submerged train graveyard in the Atlantic waters off the Long Branch,
New Jersey coast. But they were unable to explain how the two sunken locomotives came to rest
90 feet (27 meters) underwater, five miles (8 km) from shore. Trains don’t just drive
themselves off the track and under the ocean, at least not outside of movies!
The rare pre-Civil War Planet Class 2-2-2-T model steam engines date back to the 1850s,
but there are no historical records of them being built, lost, or dropped into the ocean.
It’s possible, or even likely, that they fell off of a barge, or were deliberately
pushed off of one to prevent it from capsizing, during a storm while in transit.
The trains are reportedly in remarkably good condition for having sat at the bottom of
the Atlantic for over a century and a half, the Daily Mail reported in 2013.
It was the same year that Dan Lieb, a member of the Philadelphia Chapter of the Explorers Club,
coordinated with the New Jersey Museum of Transportation to figure out what, if anything,
to do with the engines, but nothing seemed to come of it, and they remain on the seafloor.
The New Jersey Scuba Diving website tells a different story of the trains’ condition,
remarking that the wooden engineer’s cabins and other parts, including the smokestacks
and cow-catchers, rotted away long ago, leaving behind just the wheels and boiler barrel. In fact,
the site’s description of the engines states verbatim “are really not that great a dive.”
Planet Class 2-2-2-T locomotives became obsolete shortly after they started being manufactured,
so they were only made for a limited time. Although they were powerful for
their 15-ton (13.6 metric tons) size, they were no match for the 35-ton (31.8 metric
tons) steam engines that were also being made at the time, and which packed a much larger punch.
3. PENIS FISH
Named after the Ancient Greek phallic god Priapus, the priapulida, more commonly known
as the “penis fish,” is a bizarre marine worm whose looks accurately reflect its
name. This elusive creature is rarely seen, but unmistakable when spotted. That’s right,
encountering a boatload of these would make even the most serious sailor burst out in laughter.
These unsegmented worms are part of a small class of 22 known species of small,
wormlike benthic animals, meaning they live on the sea bottom. They are found at both shallow
and extreme depths in most of the world’s oceans, including in both polar and tropical regions.
Priapulida-like creatures appeared on the fossil record as far back as the Middle Cambrian period,
which lasted from 541 million years ago to 485.4 years ago. Scientists believe that they were
likely major predators during that time. Sadly for them, these unique creatures are rather small,
measuring between 0.02 inches and just under eight inches (0.5-200 mm).
While diving at Rye Beach in Victoria off the Australian coast earlier this year as part of
her job to document the increase in marine life generated by keeping the beach clean,
a woman named Josie Jones happened to cross paths with one of these hilarious fish.
She seized the opportunity to snap photos of it with her underwater camera,
which went viral on social media.
Naturally, the images attracted a plethora of comments from her amused friends, but Jones’s work
is not all about humor. As a 10-year veteran at her job, she has seen a steady improvement in the
health and abundance of marine plant and animal life as a result of regularly cleaning the beach,
thus helping to keep all fish populations healthy, no matter how funny looking they are.
2. THE ‘LONGEST CREATURE EVER’
While surveying the seafloor during an expedition in western Australia last year,
a team of researchers encountered what they believe may be the longest
creature ever discovered in the ocean, or possibly on Earth.
Called a siphonophore, they described it as an “enormous spiral floating in the water column.”
When the story broke, the scientists admitted that they were unsure of exactly how long the
otherworldly organism is. By that point, they had estimated that its outer ring measured
nearly 155 feet (47 meters) and they are in the process of determining its entire length,
lead researcher Nerida Wilson told CBC. The team believes that the siphonophore is likely at least
390 feet (119 meters) long and promised to update the world once they know for sure.
If their estimate is accurate, the creature would surpass the lion’s mane jellyfish, which is the
current record holder for the longest marine animal at nearly 120 feet (36.5 meters) long. It
would also surpass the 180-foot-long (55 meters) ribbon worm, which is the longest land animal.
Siphonophores are predatory deep ocean dwellers that are made up
of small clones working together as one organism, according to Wilson.
“A little group of clones somehow communicate with each other and decide,
well, we’re going to take over the role of feeding and another group
of clones will take over the role of reproduction,” she explained.
They typically take on a rope-like appearance, and while they resemble jellyfish,
they are more closely related to corals and anemones. Scientists admittedly have limited
knowledge of these creatures, and don’t even know how they reach such massive sizes.
1. TRANSLUCENT OCTOPUS
While on a deep, dark dive at night into the waters of the coastal Pacific
near the Philippines, Taipei-based photographer Wu Yung-sen captured a
photograph of a larval Wunderpus octopus (wunderpus photogenicus),
a species that was not discovered until 1980, and was only first described in 2006.
While adult specimens are red with white spots and stripes,
the juvenile that Yung-sen captured a picture of, like all others of its species, was translucent,
and the image shows its developing brain inside its head. Wouldn’t you want to own
a fish where you could see its brain through its transparent skin? I sure would. These
creatures are popular among photographers, but to spot such a young one is rare.
Wunderpus octopuses are small-bodied benthic creatures who live on the
seafloor sediments in relatively shallow waters no more than 66 feet
(20 meters) deep. They are known for their ability to quickly alter their appearance,
enabling them to blend in with their surroundings and mimic venomous animals such as lionfish and
banded sea kraits by changing their color patterns when disturbed or threatened. This evolutionary
trait is a survival mechanism that developed over time as a way to warn predators to stay away.
Scientists don’t know much about these octopuses, who prefer a solitary lifestyle
with little to no social behavior, making them somewhat difficult to observe and document.
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