Next, I’m gonna prepare the vegetables.
What the?
Aah!
Aaaaah!
The sea is full of bizarre, almost alien creatures.
We have two videos that just scratch the surface of the
strange bizarre world, and there’s still more to find.
Like this thing!
Posted to Tik Tok by user natalie1526n, we can clearly see
something that was fished out of the bay in New York City.
What the hell, what is that, mom!
What?
Ma you see this?
No?
Holy sh— what the hell is that?
What is happening?
You guys see this?
But what exactly that something
is, has been a matter of debate.
Some say it looks like an octopus, others claim it’s
some kind of Demogorgon as seen in Stranger Things.
So what is this thing, and more importantly, why
do I have to go back to the terror of the open sea?
When it comes to strange deep sea creatures, it
doesn’t get much more viral than the blobfish.
Named the World’s Ugliest Animal in 2013 by the Ugly
Animal Preservation Society, the smooth-head blobfish, or
psychrolutes marcidus, looks like a sad clown on velvet and
is native to the waters around Australia from Broken Bay
in New South Wales down to Southern Australia and Tasmania.
Kinda reminds me of one of those
little blob characters from Mr. Men and Little Miss…
Yeah yeah I know, I know, kinda like Mr. Rude!
Or Mr. Silly without the hat and more frowning.
Unlike the Mr. Men, blobfish live at depths between
2000 and 4000 feet (609-1219 m) beneath the surface.
These deep sea dwellers were largely unknown, until a certain
viral photograph elevated them to ugly animal stardom.
But that might be a little unfair to our friend the
blobfish, because they don’t really look like this.
In their natural high-pressure
habitat, they look a little different.
Now that’s a facetune.
Look at that guy, just chillin’.
The thing about living at such incredible depths is
that you need to develop certain adaptations in order
to not be crushed under the sheer pressure of the water.
For example, many fish have a gas filled sac called a
swim bladder that helps them control their buoyancy.
However, the blobfish doesn’t—just like its deep
sea neighbours the anglerfish, sharks and rays.
Under 2000 feet (609 m) of pressure, a
swim bladder would just implode.
The blobfish is also notable for their ability to live up to
130 years, which is a long time to sit around and do nothing.
They also don’t have muscles or a skeleton, and
are composed of a sort of gelatin-like substance
that is just slightly less dense than water,
allowing them to float just above the ocean floor.
Amusingly, while blobfish will eat just about
any food that floats in front of their face,
they’re not particularly appetizing themselves.
The blobfish’s skin is acidic, and that gelatinous
structure doesn’t make for good eating—so it’s
ironic that their greatest threat is fishers.
Ohh, okay that makes sense.
No it doesn’t.
How does anyone fish that deep?
Well, blobfish are caught through the ecologically damaging
practice of “bottom trawling”, where a large net is dragged
across the ocean floor in an attempt to catch commercial fish.
This practice is used off the West coast of the United
States to catch fish like rockfish and Pacific cod.
Since the blobfish’s body is meant to survive at
2000 feet (609 m) below sea level, they rapidly depressurize
when they’re dragged up and well… without the
pressure they transform about as quickly as a
mimic octopus—except in a much less survivable way.
But where the blobfish may be ugly, or so
ugly it’s cute depending on taste, here’s a
deep sea creature that’s closer to the norm.
That is to say, horrifying!
Meet the goblin shark, prowler of the depths
and next in line for the role of Green Goblin.
Notable for its distinctive nose and jaws— gaww, just
look at that, awful, opening wide to reveal the darkness
within, just before they clamp down around me and snuff
out all light leaving me lost in the pits of hell!
Sorry about that.
The goblin shark can be found in the
Atlantic, Indian, and Pacific oceans, and is
particularly common around the coast of Japan.
So common that Japanese fishers who reportedly caught
them started drawing comparisons to the long snouted
mythological creatures tengu, earning them the
nickname of tengu-zame, anglicized as “goblin shark”.
Like the blobfish, the goblin shark can be found as
deep down at 4265 feet (1300 m) below sea level, but unlike
our blobby friends, they swim to shallower depths.
In fact, juvenile goblin sharks have been
known to swim within 90 feet (27 m) of the surface.
So you could actually see one while diving.
Eugh.
The goblin shark usually grows between 10 and
12 feet long, with the current record being
12.6 feet (3-3.6 m) long and weighing in at 463 pounds (210 kg).
Ok, but I really gotta ask, what is with that nose?
Well, this nose-like-facial protrusion is coated in
pores that pick up on electrical fields from other
fish allowing it to “smell” and track the electrical
signals of its prey before swooping in for a meal.
It seems like it would be hard to get
around that with their little mouths.
Right you are, and that’s why the goblin shark’s
jaw can shoot forward at ten feet a second.
The goblin shark can do this because its jaw is
attached to its body with three-foot long (~90 cm) flaps of
skin that can unfold from the rest of its snout.
This particular method of feeding
is known as “slingshot feeding”.
Its mouth can also open by 111 degrees,
compared to the 85 degree maximum of humans.
Oh, and if you were wondering why it seems
to have a toothy grin all of the time, that’s
because its teeth don’t all fit in its mouth.
So, what about that mystery catch seen in New York City?
Was it a deep sea monster, a squid of
some sort, or something totally new?
The answer is far simpler than you may think.
It’s a ray.
What, like a manta ray?
Doesn’t look anything like that!
Well no, not a manta.
A clearnose skate, to be precise.
If you look closely, you can see the tail, the little mouth
flaps, and the fins curled up over the rest of its body.
Some TikTok users speculated this was due to the skate
being deformed or underdeveloped, with others saying that
it might be curling up like a ball to protect itself.
The clearnose skate is common across the
East coast of the US and northern Mexico,
meaning it’s not even unusual in New York.
It just goes to show, sometimes when you look closely,
what seems to be a mystery is easily explained.
While other times, something that seems quite
simple turns out to be completely insane!
Meet the Portugese Man o'War.
Yeah, yeah, it’s a big jellyfish.
What’s so special about that?
The fact that it’s not a jellyfish.
Wait, what?!
Named for its visual similarity to a Man o’War warship at full
sail, the Portugese Man o’War is a siphonophore, meaning that
it’s made up of colonies of genetically-identical organisms.
Each Man o’War is composed of different polyps.
There are four notable categories of polyps, the first being
the float, which is an individual polyp that inflates with
gas, sometimes as tall as 15 cm (5.9 in), and floats atop the water.
The polyp is available in a variety of lovely blues,
pinks, and purples that hide the horror beneath.
Other polyps include the capturing tentacles,
which are exactly what they sound like.
Catching small fish and other potential prey, paralyzing
them with barbs containing a painful neurotoxin.
This newly acquired food is then passed up by the
feeding tentacles, which transport the stunned prey up
to the underside of the Man o’ War’s float where they’re
digested in baglike stomachs, after which the nutrients
are shared between the different organisms in the colony.
These tentacles can hang as far down as 165 feet (50 m)
below the float, which would be a terrifying thing
for a fish to get caught in while swimming along.
Thankfully, the Man o’ War’s barbs won’t paralyze a
human— but they still pack a painful punch, and can
sting you even weeks after they’ve washed up ashore.
The last organism making up the Man o’ War is
the breeding polyps, which seek to procreate
using a method called “broadcast spawning”.
This method involves female and male Man o’ Wars releasing
their eggs and sperm respectively into a water column
all at once, to increase the likelihood of fertilization.
So you’re telling me, it’s actually four animals in one?
Yeah, imagine each Man o’ War as
basically being four kids in a trenchcoat.
The depths of the ocean are a strange, mysterious place.
It’s not a coincidence that creatures from the unexplored
reaches are an inspiration when creating alien worlds.
But, it’s good to take a moment and acknowledge the
strange beauty found in the creatures down there… or
the terror that those things can strike into our hearts.
I mean those jaws!
Gah!
Can't get enough fear and dread?
I recommend watching the newest episode of On The Hill, where
these powerless meatbags tackle the perils of Phasmaphobia.
Ugh Chill, you gotta leave me alone
if I’m gonna get a look at this ghost.
No.
I’m really excited to be playing with you all again.
Are we friends?
Gotta get out of there man, you gotta get out get out get out.