From the heaviest fish in the world to animals so tough they can survive a nuclear explosion,
here are 12 sea creatures you never knew existed: Number 12 The Dumbo octopus
The Dumbo octopus is a species of octopi that resembles the title character of the Disney
film.
It has prominent ear-like fins making it look like a baby elephant’s head.
The Dumbo octopus lives at depths of over 13,000 feet below sea level.
They grow to almost 6ft in length and weigh up to 13 pounds.
They swim by flapping their ear-like fins and hover over the sea floor searching for
food and feed on worms, amphipods and other crustaceans.
They typically capture their prey by pouncing on it and then swallowing it whole.
Number 11 Ocean Sunfish The ocean sunfish is the heaviest bony fish
in the world, weighing between 545 and 2,205 pounds.
Living on a diet of sea jellies and small fish, which it has to consume in very large
quantities because of their poor nutritional value.
Occasionally they feed on squid and crustaceans and will even ingest, eel grass.
Ocean sunfish have laterally flattened bodies and got their name from their habit of sunbathing
on the surface of the water.
Their protruding dorsal fins are often mistaken for sharks when they swim near the surface.
Ocean sunfish usually live in temperate and tropical waters of every ocean in the world.
Although they may look frightening if you encounter them in the water, ocean sunfish
are docile and pose no threat to humans.
However, due to their large size and weight, they can pose a hazard to watercrafts.
Number 10 Humpback Anglerfish The humpback anglerfish, also known as the
humpback black devil, lives at depths ranging from 800 to 13,000 feet below the ocean’s
surface.
They have black soft bodies and large heads, widened mouths and long pointed teeth.
Females are capable of eating prey even larger than themselves.
Female humpback anglerfish also have a short dorsal fin spine with a bulbous apparatus
which they can use as a bioluminescent lure to attract prey or potential mates.
Usually, females eat almost everything they encounter, as food sources are limited in
the deep sea.
Number 9 Amphipoda Amphipoda is an order of crustaceans that
range in size from 0.03 inches to 13.4 inches.
Their bodies are laterally compressed and have no carapace.
The most interesting thing about amphipods is their feeding behavior.
There are more than 9.900 species, and some are flesh-eating scavengers.
Amphipods have two front pairs of legs with large claws.
They use their claws to grasp their food and will feed on almost anything nutritious they
come across, including each other, cannibalism is high in some species.
Although amphipods don’t usually feed on humans, in 2017 in Melbourne, a little boy
was left with severe bleeding wounds on his leg after swimming in the water for about
half an hour.
Number 8 Sarcastic Fringehead The sarcastic fringehead is a small fish with
a large Predator-like mouth and aggressive territorial behavior.
It can only grow up to 12 inches long and lives in the Pacific, off the coast of North
America, from San Francisco, California to central Baja California.
When two of these creatures meet and have a territorial battle, they wrestle by pressing
their mouths against each other.
The larger fish is the one which establishes dominance.
The sarcastic fringehead has needlelike teeth which they use for defense against any creature
that intrudes on its territory.
However, they do not use their frightening mouths for feeding.
Sarcastic fringeheads are unable to suction food due to their oversized jaws and usually
feed on eggs during squid spawning season.
Number 7 Pelican eel The Pelican eel, also known as the gulper
eel, has a very large mouth which it can open wide enough to swallow bigger fish.
Gulper eels live at extreme depths from 1,600 to almost 10,000 ft.
They have tiny black snake-like bodies which combined with their much bigger heads give
them the appearance of an alien.
Although their mouth can expand in order to swallow bigger fish, pelican eels have very
small teeth.
They usually feed on squid and other small invertebrates, as they cannot use their teeth
to attack and fill large fish.
Number 6 Pacific Viperfish The Pacific viperfish lives in the abyssal
depths of the deep sea and is easily recognized by its large open mouth.
It’s a predatory fish that can reach lengths of 1 foot and it has an iridescent dark silver
body.
Pacific viperfish cannot close their mouths due to their very large fang-like teeth which
they use to trap their prey with.
They also have a light or gone located at the end of their dorsal fin rays.
Pacific viperfish usually feed on crustaceans and small fish.
They use luminescent silhouetting in order to warn potential predators like sharks or
dolphins of their formidable size.
Number 5 Abyssal ghostsharks Pointy-nosed blue chimaeras or more commonly
known as abyssal ghostsharks are sea creatures that live in temperate ocean floors down to
6,500 feet deep.
They are believed to be some of the oldest fish in existence, as they branched off from
sharks nearly 400 million years ago.
Their bodies have a ghost-like appearance with blue-gray coloration, which is where
their names come from.
They can grow up to 4ft.
Their frightening appearance is also caused by the dark lines around their orbits which
gives them a demonic appearance.
Number 4 Stargazer Fish Stargazers are a family of fish that camouflage
themselves in the sand on the ocean floor and attack when a fish swims by.
Their eyes are mounted on the top of their heads and they have upward facing mouths.
Stargazers have two large venomous spines located above their pectoral fins and some
species can also cause electric shock.
Their way of attacking other fish combined with their ability to cause electric shock
and the fact that they also have venomous spines, have caused some to refer to stargazers
as “the meanest things in creation”.
They’re also known as the mother-in-law fish.
Despite their gruesome reputation, stargazers are a delicacy in some cultures.
Number 3 Immortal Jellyfish The immortal jellyfish is a species of biologically
undying jellyfish.
It’s found in the Mediterranean Sea and the waters of Japan and has no maximum lifespan.
It begins life as a larva and settles down to the sea floor, where it gives rise to a
colony of polyps.
Each polyp and jellyfish arising from a single larva is a genetically identical clone.
The polyps morph into an extensively branched form.
Jellyfish then bud off the polyps and continue their life in a free-swimming form.
They eventually reach six dual maturity and start preying on other jellyfish species.
Their immortal ability kicks in when they are exposed to environmental stress, physical
as salt or when they are sick or old.
That’s when these remarkable creatures can form a new polyp colony.
This process can go on indefinitely.
However, even immortal jellyfish can die, as they can succumb to predators or disease
while in the medusa stage, before budding off the polyps, when they cannot revert to
the polyp form.
Number 2 Water Bears Water bears are micro-animals that resemble
bears and are believed to be the toughest and most resilient animals on the planet.
They can survive incredibly harsh conditions such as exposure to extreme temperatures or
pressures, radiation, air deprivation, dehydration and even starvation.
They can go without food or water for more than 30 years.
Their barrel-shaped bodies usually only grow up to 0.02 inches long and have four pairs
of legs, each with four to eight claws.
Water bears feed on algae, plant cells and small invertebrates.
They have no respiratory organs, as the gas exchange occurs across the entirety of the
body.
They can live to be 200 years old and may even survive nuclear explosions.
It’s even believed that water bears could even survive floating through the vacuum of
outer space.
Number 1 Sea Spiders The sea spider is not really an arachnid,
but a marine arthropod.
It got the name from its eerie resemblance to a spider.
It has eight long legs and a small body.
Most species of sea spiders are so small that each of their muscles consists of only one
cell.
They’re most common in shallow waters where they’re usually found walking along the
bottom.
Most sea spiders are carnivorous, feeding on sponges and tiny sea creatures.
However, there is a species of sea spiders called The Southern Ocean giant sea spider
whose leg span can reach up to 9 inches.
It lives at the bottom of the ocean and feeds on worms, jellyfish and sponges.
While some of these creatures have eight legs, just like spiders do, most have 10 and even
12 legs.
Their anatomy is different from the usual sea spiders’, as they do not seem to have
a body.
Their organs are located in their legs, which they also use for respiratory purposes.
The Southern Ocean giant sea spider lives in coastal waters of South Africa, South America
and Madagascar but can also be found in the waters around Antarctica.