- The deepest, darkest depths
of the ocean are a frightening place.
Put together all the horror movies you've seen,
add some alien monsters,
and sprinkle over them some apparitions
from your worst nightmares
and you will still not reach the depths
of scariness that daring marine biologists have explored.
These are the 10 scariest deep sea creatures.
If you're disgusted by this creature,
you aren't the only one.
The blobfish was voted the ugliest animal in 2013.
Found at depths between 2,00 and 3,900 feet
off the coast of Australia, New Zealand,
where the pressure is up to 120 times greater
than that of the surface,
the blobfish looks like a big gelatinous nose
that is greatly deformed,
but it turns out that underwater,
the blobfish isn't so ugly.
It's the dramatic change in pressure at the surface
that deforms its low density flesh,
giving it its monstrous appearance,
while it's first observed outside of the depths.
At any rate, for a fish only about 11 inches long,
the blobfish is certainly a disquieting sight.
The gulper eel has a pelican-like jaw
and small teeth which which it can swallow things
10 times bigger than itself.
Reaching depths of up to 10,000 feet,
the gulper eel hasn't been observed
in any great detail,
so we don't know that much about its habits.
One interesting thing that scientists found out so far
is that some species of the gulper eel
are bioluminescent: emitting light as a way
to camouflage themselves in lower prey.
Isopods are crustaceans
with seven pairs of legs.
Terrestrial varieties are no bigger than two inches.
Underwater, however,
isopods are known to reach lengths
of up to 30 inches.
Super giant isopods feed on sea cucumbers,
sponges, or fish carcasses,
but food can be scarce
at the great depths they reach.
It could be the scarcity in food
that delays the sexual maturity
of the creatures of the deep,
increasing their size.
Whether or not that's true,
the super giant isopod more than deserves
to be on our list.
Just look at it!
This horror squid was found at a depth
of five thousand seven hundred and forty
to six thousand five hundred and sixty feet
by German researchers in the southern Atlantic Ocean.
It is the only specimen of its kind ever found,
so we know next to nothing about its behavior.
While new to the scientific world,
Promachoteuthis sulcus have problem been lurking
at the bottom of the ocean
for millions of years.
Together with many other mysteries of the deep,
which we have yet to discover.
This creature looks a bit like a wingless dragon,
but it's really only a barbeled dragonfish.
Its light emitting barbel
projecting from its lower jaw
and dangling in front of its head,
is thought to attract prey.
With those teeth,
it's easy to imagine what happens next.
Deep see gigantism isn't as obvious
in the barbeled dragonfish as in other species though
as dragonfish aren't longer than 26 centimeters.
This is a small monster,
but a monster nonetheless.
Sharks have a reputation for being one
of the planet's scariest animals
and deep water sharks are no exception.
The frilled shark is considered a living fossil
and it's enough to look at its primitive features
to understand why as this species
has changed little in over a million years.
Known to reach a length of up to 6.6 feet,
this snakelike shark bends its body like a cobra
and springs forward swallowing fish in one gulp.
Its uncanny body shape and transparency
makes the fish less conspicuous
when it is seen from below.
The teeth on the viperfish are so large
that the viperfish has to open its jaw
to be able to slowly its prey.
When hunting, the viperfish
swims head first at its victim,
usually smaller fish,
running its teeth through it.
The only reassuring thing about this killer fish
is that its only about 11 inches long.
In spite of that,
the Guinness Book of World Records
acknowledges this species
as having the largest teeth
relative to head size of any fish.
From the depths of the Atlantic
to those of the Pacific and the Indian Oceans,
the marine hatchetfish
is a constant present at great depths.
The only thing that the marine hatchetfish
have in common with aquarian hatchetfish
is their relative small size
ranging from one to 4.7 inches.
Its uncanny body shape and transparency
make this fish less conspicuous
when seen from below,
allowing it to escape large predators,
but perhaps the most unnerving part of its anatomy
is it's tubular eyes for which scientists
also have an evolutionary explanation.
They enable it to catch food falling from above.
The most bizarre of all sharks
may well lurk in the deep.
Discovered only in the late 70s,
the megamouth shark is endowed
with a terrific mouth and sizable proportions.
It can grow up to 18 feet
and weigh as much is 2,679 pounds.
The megamouth shark has seldom been seen
and the lack of substantial reports
make it difficult for scientists to classify it.
One thing's for sure though,
it looks down there somewhere even as we speak.
A near mythical creature,
the giant squid, has starred in stories
and legends across cultures for centuries,
but it wasn't until 2004
that scientists actually caught it
on tape in its natural habitat.
This deep sea squid can reach 43 feet in length
with the females being notably larger than the males.
Throughout history,
there have been sightings
of giant squids as large is 66 feet.
Either washed up on shore
or spotted by sailing ships,
but there was no scientific evidence
to prove their existence.
If you really wanna see a giant squid,
your best bet is the Melbourne aquarium,
which paid $100,000
for a 22 foot long squid
that now stares uncannily at visitors
from its new permanent home:
a block of ice.
For more top lists just like this,
be sure to leave a like and subscribe
if you haven't already
and don't forget to check out our other lists.
And thanks for watching
and thanks for learning.
(calm music)