Get ready for a quick dose of crazy creature awesomeness.
Coming in at number five,
See that enlarged claw?
That's the pistol shrimp's claim to fame.
It can shoot a bubble bullet out of its claw
at 100 km/h (62 mph),
stunning its prey.
It is pretty stunning.
The bubble is also
hot and loud,
reaching temperatures of 5,000 °C (9,000 °F).
At 218 dB, the sound the bubble generates
is louder than a bullet.
But because the bubble moves so quickly,
it wouldn't
sound that loud to us.
These skilled assassins don't act alone, though.
Pistol shrimps are firing nearly blind,
so they rely on their partners in crime, the goby fish.
When a shrimp leaves its burrow,
it taps the goby with one of its antennae.
The goby flicks its fin to signal when prey is nearby,
informing the shrimp when to shoot.
Move over, Clint Eastwood.
There's a new sheriff in town.
At number four,
Related to starfish and sea urchins,
the lowly sea cucumber has a unique talent
for defending itself against predators.
It can shoot its toxic internal organs in the face of
anything that tries to eat it.
It may sound like hara-kiri, but don't worry.
The sea cucumber just regenerates its organs.
And sea cucumbers
deposit over 64,000 metric tons (70,548 tons)
of poop in a single year across a coral reef.
Each creature can expel
37 g (1.3 oz) of poop daily or 14 kg (30.8 lbs) yearly.
It sounds gross, but their poop plays a significant role
in the health of coral reef ecosystems.
Flying in at number three,
Check out this bizarre scene.
Have you ever seen a pelican do that before?
Contrary to popular belief,
they are not exposing their spines
through their mouths to cool down.
They're yawning.
The bulges coming out of their mouths are called
a glottis exposure.
Keep it under wraps pelican.
According to Darren Naish, a paleontologist,
they do this by inverting the pouches beneath
their long beaks over their neck and chest.
Dr. Naish also says that this strange yawn stretches
and rearranges the lower jaw and throat tissues.
Imagine if humans yawned like that. Yikes.
I kind of do.
And it number two,
Not to be confused with the aforementioned
organ-expelling sea cucumber,
this plant creates a fruit that looks like
you guessed it, a cucumber
When it's ripe, the fruit explodes from the vine
and squirts seeds covered in a goopy, gelatinous substance.
These seeds eject up to 6.1 m (20 ft) from the plant.
But don't try to eat them.
They're considered poisonous now, but squirting cucumbers
were used to treat rheumatism,
shingles and cardiac disease.
But its medical prowess has been debunked.
And wriggling into the number one spot,
In the frigid waters of the Southern Ocean
at depths of 520 to 670 m (1,706 to 2,198 ft),
this scaly worm can grow up to 20 cm (8 in) long.
What makes it even more bizarre is its retractable
tubular sucking mouthpart
that looks like an eyeless head.
It can turn inside-out and fold up into the worm's body.
This strange appendage comes out while feeding,
exposing jaws full of jagged teeth.
The worm may use its ring of bristles for swimming,
crawling and self-defense.
Some species have glowing bristles,
while others may use their bristles to circulate
oxygenated water into tight spaces
or produce venom.
Want to see more of these
Christmas ornaments from your nightmares?
Check out our episode about Antarctic scale worms.
Firing seeds and bubble bullets,
and yawning strangely,
that's what some plants and animals do.
And that's why they're