The most incredible deep-sea inhabitants. Real sea monsters (photo)

Scientists continue to explore previously inaccessible underwater spaces.

The waters of the world's oceans are much less explored than space. One can only guess what monsters lurk in its depths.

The ocean has always been mysterious and inaccessible to humans for many millennia. And unlike deserts, jungles and even caves, people penetrated there from time to time.

In May 2012, a creature unknown to science was caught in the camera lens of a remotely controlled underwater vehicle. According to experts, this monster cannot be classified as one known species sea ​​inhabitants. The creature resembles a jellyfish, but this is only at first glance. Visible in the shapeless translucent body internal organs and appendages that are not found in ordinary jellyfish. Moreover, the creature has amazing ability grow to incredible sizes and shrink almost instantly. Scientists have suggested that this monster is more likely to be a poisonous predator than a giant jellyfish.

Perhaps a sailing ship of Siberian travelers crossing the Atlantic Ocean was attacked by a similar monster in 2011. Early in the morning, the sailors heard a strange noise and soon felt a strong rocking motion. Then there was a grinding sound of metal. It became clear: something unknown was trying to sink the boat. Suddenly, overboard the schooner, the sailors saw something resembling a huge jellyfish emerge from the water. The monster was scared off by a siren, which notified the crew of the danger. It still remains a mystery which underwater monster the crew of the boat was attacked by.

This case is far from the only one. In October 2008, a group of Japanese scientists on the Shinkai-6500 bathyscaphe sank to a depth of 7 kilometers 700 meters in the Japan Trench. The purpose of the underwater expedition was to study the ocean floor and search for the epicenters of underwater earthquakes.

It was not possible to complete the underwater expedition. As soon as the bathyscaphe plunged onto maximum depth, electrical appliances began to malfunction in it, and then, according to scientists, something huge emerged from the darkness and cut through the wires of the video equipment.

“I studied this case. It was Living being, which is unknown to science today. There are thousands of them in the world's oceans. Why it showed aggression and disabled the divers’ equipment is unclear, maybe it was a predator that sensed a threat and then disappeared,” says Nick Pope, former manager research department anomalous phenomena UK Ministry of Defence.

After this incident, the Japanese submersible dropped to the same depth several more times, but nothing like this happened again.

In 2005, almost in the same area Pacific Ocean, an accident occurred with the Russian bathyscaphe AS-28. During a planned dive off the coast of Kamchatka, he found himself immobilized. The researchers on board simply could not move it. It seemed as if someone was holding the bathyscaphe, preventing it from plunging to a given depth.

According to the official version, the Russian submersible became entangled in a fishing net. However, not everyone agreed with her. The fact is that in this area of ​​the Pacific Ocean fishing has never been carried out. But even if it was a net, it was impossible for the bathyscaphe to get entangled in it. The propellers of the device are protected by special metal casings. What made the deep-sea bathyscaphe remain at the bottom for almost several days?

In 2002, during a research mission, a robotic vehicle of the Japanese Earth and Ocean Exploration Agency discovered a living translucent organism resembling a jellyfish at a depth of over 7 thousand meters at the bottom of the Japan Trench. After detailed study, it turned out that the invertebrate is not similar to any species known to biologists.

“This case clearly shows how little we know about the underwater world. The only thing scientists managed to do was release a couple of blurry photographs from the bottom of the Japan Trench. Today, oceanographers and biologists are actively working in the area to catch this creature and understand what it is,” says Nick Pope.

To date, the creature found at the bottom of the Japan Trench has not been classified and is not even named. It is only known that it has a small body and four huge tentacles, one and a half meters each. Biologists cannot yet explain such an unusual body structure.

In 1985, the American vessel Glomar Challenger, a prototype of modern oil drilling platforms, carried out bottom exploration in the Mariana Trench.

In order to understand whether it is worth drilling the ocean floor, researchers decided to lower an automatic probe equipped with echo sounders and highly sensitive television cameras to a depth of almost 11 kilometers.

A few hours later, even before the exploration of the bottom was completed, the echo sounders suddenly began to transmit strange sounds to the surface, and the cables on which the probe was attached became stretched as if someone was trying to break them.

To find out the reason strange behavior instruments, the researchers decided to suspend exploration and raise the equipment to the surface. But it was as if someone was holding the underwater platform, pulling the cables with incredible force. Only three hours later, an unknown force released the underwater vehicle, and it was possible to raise it to the surface. At the same time, damage similar to the teeth of a giant monster was found on the skin of the probe, and the cables were half torn off.

“This story caused a lot of noise. Because the cables really looked as if someone had sawed them or tried to bite them, and the platform itself was severely deformed. In order not to arouse fears, at first it was decided to put forward as the official version the idea that the platform was caught on an underwater rock, but this, of course, did not explain anything,” says British researcher and journalist Graham Hancock.

In fact, at first glance, the official version looked more than logical. After all, at the bottom Mariana Trench there really are real mountains. However, the platform sank at a point where these mountains did not exist, and the instruments with which the platform was equipped did not record a single collision with the underwater surface.

The members of the commission could not explain the strange sounds that were recorded by the instruments at the moment of the collision.

Another mysterious incident occurred in 1960. Then the world famous Swiss explorer Jacques Piccard made the first ever attempt to descend to the bottom of the Mariana Trench. It took Jacques Piccard and his partner Don Walsh almost five hours to descend 11 kilometers. They stayed at the very bottom for only 12 minutes.

“When we found ourselves almost at the bottom of the Mariana Trench, it was incredible. We saw living creatures unknown to science. Strange fish, giant clams. It was a shock to find living creatures at the bottom of the ocean, in eternal darkness,” Don Walsh later said.

Many years later, diary entries from the logbook that Jacques Piccard kept during the dive were declassified. At a depth of one and a half kilometers, he made a note: “Through the window you can see a large disc-shaped object that accompanies the bathyscaphe. The object is performing maneuvers, clearly looking at us.” Of course, in the deep-sea desert, this mysterious meeting made an indelible impression on the researchers. The object was so clearly visible that there was no question of optical illusion. However, after a few minutes, the disk disappeared into the underwater haze without causing any harm to the submersible.

According to one version, the mysterious object was an ancient relict underwater creature. This smacks of science fiction, but more real option there is no answer to this question.

The archives of the military departments also store many reports that describe such incidents. The most valuable are the reports and reports of commanders of nuclear submarines, who report - to ocean depths they sometimes have to deal with unidentified underwater objects, the origin of which cannot yet be explained.

In February 1946, military intelligence Great Britain has sounded the alarm: Soviet Union has developed a superweapon that could threaten the British crown. These are super high speed submarines, capable of reaching incredible speeds of up to three hundred kilometers per hour.

It all started when, in neutral waters near Great Britain, sailors began to notice strange luminous objects that resembled underwater searchlights. The version that these were Soviet submarines was the only one. There is no one else. What was surprising was that these objects were moving at incredible speed.

The crew of the minesweeper Pelorus was the first to report luminous circles on the water. The documents preserved the date and detailed description incidents. On the morning of February 26, 1946, the ship set out to clear mines from the coastal waters near the Channel Islands. In the evening, when the sailors were already returning to base, a huge luminous circle suddenly appeared on the right side. It rotated clockwise at high speed.

To break away from the strange luminous object, the ship's commander gave the order to speed up. But the object did not lag behind, it followed the minesweeper on its heels. Moreover, this circle grew before our eyes. A few minutes later it reached a diameter of almost 300 meters. However, as soon as the minesweeper commander went on air to report the incident to headquarters, the mysterious glowing underwater objects disappeared in the depths as unexpectedly as they appeared

Following the mysterious incident, British naval intelligence was inundated with reports describing strange spinning circles and underwater glows.

It was never possible to determine the nature of the mysterious luminous sea “scouts”. However, after a series of similar cases, a version emerged according to which the world’s oceans are inhabited by antediluvian monsters, which over the course of many years have evolved into something endowed with a primitive intelligence.

On August 28, 1965, off the coast of California, the US Navy began implementing the unique Man at Sea program. Its main goal was to understand how long a person could live under water. A round bathyscaphe was lowered to a depth of 62 meters into the Atlantic Ocean, which was supposed to become a home for several teams of researchers for one month.

At the very beginning of the experiment, four people went down to the bottom to an underwater house. The commander of the expedition was American astronaut Scott Carpenter, who was one of the seven American astronauts who were the first to be in space. Three years after the flight, he again had to conquer the unknown world, but this time at the bottom of the sea.

Unlike his colleagues, who replaced each other, Carpenter spent all 30 days in an underwater laboratory off the coast of California. After the experiment was completed, Carpenter, who had been both in space and under water, stated that the underwater world was even more hostile to humans than space.

We are used to thinking that man is the most intelligent creature on planet Earth. Today, people have access to almost everything: space flights, life extension, nanotechnology. We live in an era of technological progress. And at the same time, we cannot understand how the great pyramids were built, whether there are intelligent beings outside the Earth, and how life works in underwater depths. It seems that more than half of what is on our planet does not actually belong to us.

SEA MONSTERS AND MONSTERS OF THE DEPTHS OF THE OCEANS
The waters of the world's oceans hide the most incredible landscape on Earth. But the light penetrates several tens of meters below the surface of the water, and the ocean depths are pitch black. When exploring the depths, new types of strange creatures are constantly being discovered. In this article we want to tell you aboutsea ​​monsters and monsters of the ocean depths.

The water temperature in such places is extremely low, sometimes reaching 2-4 degrees Celsius. Main thread nutrients comes from above, these are organo-mineral particles, which scientists call sea snow, or the remains of dead animals, with even more interesting name rain of corpses.

Oceans cover more than 70% of the surface of our planet; man has so far studied no more than 10% of everything that happens in the waters of the world's oceans. Today we want to talk about the inhabitants of the depths of the ocean, living at a depth of more than 200-300 meters. Life at such depths has left its mark on underwater inhabitants. The majority of them are transparent in color; due to the lack of light, most of them have excellent vision, the rest are completely deprived of it. The bottom at depth is usually covered with silt, so those who move along the bottom have long stilt-like limbs.

Many animals use bioluminescence to illuminate or attract prey; some, in this way, support communication and indicate the danger that awaits those who are trying to encroach on their lives. Thus, in deep sea world, communication through luminescence plays a greater role than communication through sounds. Thus, the inhabitants of the depths adapted to survival.

Having descended to an incredible depth of over 400 meters, scientists came across a hitherto unknown creature, similar to a giant transparent snake, glowing along the entire length of its body. The size amazed everyone; it was more than 41 meters long. This is something unimaginable, beautiful, arousing respect and fear. Along the entire length of the body of this transparent snake there are almost no visible to the eye transparent, thin tentacles, once caught in which no fish can escape. Scientists have reached a stalemate when trying to classify this animal, whether it is a colonial or an individual super-organism. And yet they decided that this is a super organism that catches fish in its hanging tentacles, as can be seen in the photo.

We once wrote about rare fish Macropina, which has a transparent head through which its brain can be seen, has eyes located inside the dome and directed upward. For a long time, scientists could not understand how this fish eats if it has no idea what it is while its eyes are directed upward. But after long observations, scientists found that she is able to turn her eyeballs forward. So Makropina follows under a forty-meter snake, and when she sees a fish stuck in the tentacles of a predator, she pulls it out, turns her eyes to the front and swims away.
Unfortunately for scientists, it is not possible to catch all the species of organisms they observe at depth; the dome of Macropina raised to the surface bursts due to a pressure difference, which complicates the study of this species. Or how do you imagine a forty-meter snake, more like a jellyfish, rising to the surface from a depth of forty meters.
So scientists, not being able to obtain visual samples, only classify deep-sea inhabitants and draw conclusions by observing them.

Nowadays, scientists are very concerned about industrial fishing, when after catching tens of tons of fish that are in demand in markets, only a small part of the catch is caught, the rest is simply thrown away. The discarded catch contains many deep-sea species, whose population is rapidly declining.
Just like trees, there are rings on the bones of fish that indicate the age of the fish, usually fish live about 20-30 years, but after studying data from sections of deep-sea fish, scientists were shocked average age caught deep sea monsters amounted to 200 years! So it turns out that the slaves who lived for two hundred years were exterminated overnight, restoring the population will take much longer than catching them. According to calculations, ocean fish could be caught by the middle of the next century, a figure that horrifies scientists.

Unfortunately, when collecting catch from the bottom with nets, fishermen catch not only fish, but also corals, which are the most important for the life of the oceans.

Next, we would like to present to your attention a video of underwater filming sea ​​monsters, inhabitants of the depths.

Skeptics have long believed that all large animals on Earth have already been discovered, and the claims of cryptozoologists about real monsters living in the World Ocean and still unknown to scientists are only fictions seeking sensation. However, eyewitness accounts, instrument readings, photographs and videos, as well as remains mysterious creatures, thrown ashore by the waves, indicate the opposite.

Ten tentacles and a powerful beak

It is difficult to imagine a more terrible image than the image of one of these huge monsters floating in the ocean depths, even more gloomy from the inky liquid released by these creatures in huge quantities; it’s worth imagining hundreds of cup-shaped suckers with which its tentacles are equipped, constantly in motion and ready at any moment to grab onto anyone or anything... and in the center of the interweaving of these living traps is a bottomless mouth with a huge hooked beak, ready to tear the victim apart, found herself in tentacles. Just thinking about it sends a chill through my skin.”

This is how the English sailor and writer Frank T. Bullen described the largest, fastest and most terrible of all invertebrates on the planet - the giant squid.

In ancient times, sailors called these monsters krakens. These terrible creatures have terrorized sailors for several centuries. Sometimes all sorts of fables were told about them, for example, that sailors mistook a kraken resting on the surface of the water for an island, landed on it and woke up the dormant monster. It sank sharply, and the resulting giant whirlpool pulled the ship and its people into the abyss. Of course, this was a clear exaggeration, but there is no doubt that krakens actually reach gigantic sizes and can be dangerous to humans.

In size, the giant squid is quite comparable to the average sperm whale, with which it often enters into a fight to the death, although he is armed with very sharp teeth. The squid has ten tentacles: eight regular ones and two that are much longer than the rest and have something like spatulas at the ends. All tentacles are studded with suckers. The usual tentacles of a giant squid are 3-3.5 meters long, and the longest pair stretches up to 15 meters. With its long tentacles, the squid pulls its prey towards itself and, entwining it with its remaining limbs, tears it apart with its powerful beak.

Biologist and oceanographer Frederick Aldrich is confident that great depth giant squids even 50 meters long can live. The scientist points to the fact that all the dead specimens of the giant squid, about 15 m long, that were found belonged to young individuals with suckers of a five-centimeter diameter, while on many sperm whales, harpooned or thrown ashore by a storm, traces of suckers of a 20-centimeter diameter were found...

Newspapers wrote about the worst encounter between a man and a giant squid in 1874. The steamer Strathoven, bound for Madras, approached the small schooner Pearl, bobbing on the water. Suddenly, the tentacles of a monstrous squid rose above the sea surface, they grabbed the schooner and dragged it under the water. According to the surviving captain of the schooner, his crew watched the fight between a huge squid and a sperm whale. The giants disappeared into the depths, but after a while the captain noticed that a short distance from the schooner a huge shadow would rise from the depths. It was a monstrous squid measuring about 30 meters. As he approached the schooner, the captain shot him with a gun, followed by a swift attack by the monster, which rammed the schooner and dragged it to the bottom.

Legendary sea serpent

If most scientists no longer doubt the reality of the giant squid, then many of them do not believe in another legendary monster - the Great Sea Serpent. Meanwhile, the first mention of a sea serpent was made two thousand years ago. Since then, the monster has been described more than once by various eyewitnesses in many languages ​​of the world. Of course, many of these accounts are clearly fabrications or exaggerations, but some of the reports are quite reliable.

One of the most reliable reports was received from the sailors of the English ship Daedalus, who, off the west coast of Africa on August 6, 1848, noticed a snake-like creature approximately 30 meters long near the side of the ship. The animal, which was observed for 20 minutes, swam at a speed of about 15 knots. A drawing by one of the Daedalus officers shows an animal with its head in a medium-thick tree trunk, and one of the reports indicates that the monster had long, uneven teeth.

Scientists have already found one candidate for the “title” of the Great Sea Serpent. In 1959, Dutch researcher Anthony Bruun published a description of a 1.8-meter-long eel larva caught at a depth of 300 m off the coast of Africa. If the size of the larva of an ordinary eel is about 3 centimeters, then an almost 2-meter “baby” can easily grow into a 20-30-meter monster. Perhaps it was just such a giant eel that tourists in 1965 saw and photographed. clear water near the Great Barrier Reef. It was a creature 20-25 meters long with a dome-shaped head and a body tapering towards the end with a long, whip-like tail. Another creature that, according to skeptics, may be mistaken for a sea serpent is the herring king, reaching a length of seven meters or more.

Fantastic monsters of the depths

If anyone thinks that mysterious monsters, which were observed in ancient times in the seas and oceans, did not survive to this day, then he is greatly mistaken. So, in the late 80s of the 20th century, sea captain S. Lebedev told cryptozoologist S. Klumov about an encounter with an unknown large animal in one of the Kuril straits. At first, on the whaling ship "Dolphin" under the command of S. Lebedev, they wanted to harpoon an unknown animal, but its size turned out to be so impressive (the part of the gray back that protruded from the water reached about 15 meters in circumference) that the sailors decided not to risk it.

Relatively recently, Australian scientists conducted a scientific experiment related to the migration of great white sharks along the coast. Suddenly, their thermal sensors, as Metro writes, detected a giant monster at depth. It swallowed a three-meter-long white shark, nicknamed Alpha, whose movements scientists recorded using a GPS navigator and thermal imagers. As researchers say, science has yet to find a creature capable of swallowing such large prey without tearing it into pieces.

By the way, a megalodon could swallow a three-meter white shark without any problems. This is an ancient shark species Carcharodon megalodon, which lived in the seas and oceans 2 million years ago. It is believed that this shark has long been extinct, but some researchers doubt this. The fact is that in 1918, Australian lobster fishermen saw a huge white fish 30 meters long in the sea. And among the megalodon teeth discovered by oceanologists on the bottom of the Pacific Ocean, there was one that was only 11 thousand years old, and by historical standards, completely “fresh.” Based on the remains found ancient shark scientists have recreated her appearance. The length of the megalodon reached 25 meters, weight - 100 tons, and the two-meter mouth of the monster was dotted with 10-centimeter teeth.

The incredible diversity of forms and species of certain fish is the result of their widespread distribution, which influenced the evolutionary development of these creatures. Fish live in dams overgrown with aquatic vegetation, and in small puddles left after rain, and in mountain streams with powerful currents, and in mountain lakes at an altitude of 600 meters above sea level, and at enormous depths, where water pressure can reach 1000 atmospheres , and even in underground caves!

Evolution is a scary thing!

Naturally, in the course of evolution, adaptation to living in extreme and difficult-to-reach conditions leaves a peculiar imprint on the appearance of some fish. The most terrible and amazing of them swim not only in underground caves, but also at enormous depths. They are usually called. The way of life of these creatures is noticeably different from the life of ordinary fish that are familiar to us.

Swallowing fish

One of the least studied species of deep-sea fish is considered to be the so-called chiasmodon, or in almost any book describing such monsters, the crooked swallower resembles a boa constrictor that swallowed an elephant. In fact, live swallows are small fish, their length rarely exceeds 15 centimeters. However, this does not prevent them from swallowing their prey whole. These monster fish live at great ocean depths - up to 750 m.

Their elongated and naked body with weak muscles and has rather soft bones, black or Brown color, and the huge mouth is armed with sharp and powerful teeth that resemble fangs. They are arranged in several rows at once (like sharks). There is probably no need to remind you that the problem of nutrition in deep-sea conditions is very acute. To ensure that their competitors don’t get anything, the crook-eaters have adapted to swallow their victims instantly and without much thought.

Bagmouths

It is no less original to solve the problem of nutrition at great depths Other monster fish, the bagmouths, have learned. Scientists claim that their path to obtaining food was very thorny: evolution turned these creatures into a huge mouth with an inconspicuous appendage, which is the body. The most famous and recognizable species of bagmouth fish is the largemouth, or pelican eel. This monster reaches 60 cm in length, 30% of which is accounted for by long and rather thin jaws located on a giant mouth!

A long and large pharynx continues straight down from the lower jaw, stretching out like a bag. Visually, it resembles the throat pouch of a pelican, which is why the largemouth was nicknamed the pelican eel. In principle, the mechanism of action of such a pharynx is identical to the action of the bags of pelicans: all the caught fish falls into them. This allows both fish and poultry to stock up on food for future use. It is not uncommon for a largemouth fish to swallow prey twice its size!

Largemouths are true deep-sea monster fish, because they live at a distance of 3 thousand meters under water! That is why largemouths experience real difficulties in nutrition: their pharyngeal sacs are rarely replenished with tasty deep-sea fish and crustaceans. Therefore, they have to be content with everything. According to legend, one largemouth caught had algae, pebbles, and very few fish in its throat pouch. At gigantic depths - up to 5 thousand meters - you can generally find the so-called real bagworms, reaching a length of 1.84 meters!

Eyeless Hypnops

What kind of monster fish live on large sea ​​depths, differ from the rest not only by their large mouths, but also by their unique vision? Of course, ipnops! The fact is that deep-sea monsters have to solve problems associated with poor visibility, or rather, its absence at all, in any way possible. The ipnops mentioned above, living at depths from 900 to 6000 meters, generally took the path of least resistance, completely losing their vision. It’s understandable: why do you need eyes if you can’t see anything around anyway?

According to the descriptions of ichthyologist-researchers from the team of Jacques-Yves Cousteau, the eyes of ipnops are either completely absent, or (which happens very rarely) are so tiny and hidden under scales and skin that they are not able to perceive light at all. It is worth noting that this solution to problems did not suit the vast majority of deep monsters, since vision in the lives of these creatures continued and continues to play a big role. To see in conditions of constant darkness, many of them needed special devices, but that is another story.

The legendary herring king

Not long ago, another discovery by ichthyologists was reported on the American TV channel Nat Geo Wild. Monster fish, it turns out, are distinguished not only by their large width! The fact is that researchers have finally managed to capture on video the rare deep-sea fish that once brought fear to sailors. Her name is the herring king, or belt-fish. She accidentally fell into the lens of a television camera, which allowed zoologists from the University of Louisiana to observe with their own eyes the legendary herring king in his natural environment a habitat.

Unexpected meeting"

Until now, the belt fish, reaching 17 meters in length, could be seen either dead or dying the moment it voluntarily floated to the surface of the water. This is the first time that such legendary underwater monsters were not only visible to the entire scientific world community, but also recorded on video in the so-called life mode. According to the Discovery TV channel, monster fish, which are in the same family as the herring king, are found at depths of up to 1.5 thousand meters.

The fish-strap was noticed by researchers several years ago, when they inspected a drilling rig using CCTV cameras. However, this unexpected “meeting” was declassified not so long ago. Experts spoke about this on the BBC TV channel. Professor Mark Benfield then shared his impressions: “We actually thought that we were facing another oil pipe. As soon as we enlarged the image, we realized that this was not a pipe, but a real herring king!”

Deep sea anglerfish

These creatures are real monster fish! Their second name is ceratiformes. They are the most studied of all the deep-sea fish described in this article. Anglerfish belong to the suborder of deep-seated fish from the order Anglerfishes and inhabit the water column throughout the World Ocean, i.e. everywhere. Currently, ichthyologists have described 11 families, which include almost 120 species. Deep sea anglerfish live at depths of up to 3000 meters. They differ from other monsters in their spherical and laterally flattened body shape. Females have a so-called “fishing rod”.

The famous "fishing" of anglers

The “fishing rod” is a modified ray of the dorsal fin, which is “ business card"of these creatures. This “fishing rod” plays the role of bait. At its end is the so-called esca - a small skin growth hanging over a huge mouth with needle-shaped teeth. The Esca is filled with millions of different glowing bacteria. It is they who serve as bait for small and stupid fish, which, like moths to the light, swim towards it. Monster fish with such “fishing rods” are able to control the frequency and brightness of flashes. This allows them to enhance the effect they have on the victim they are fooling.

River monster fish. The terrible terapon goliath

It is a distant and rather rare relative of the modern piranha. However, compared to this monster, piranhas are tiny and harmless fish. The goliath terapon was found and caught by one of the popular American fishermen in Africa. This monster has 32 razor-sharp teeth and is the most terrible in the world! It's also the biggest and deadliest dangerous look, representing the piranha family.

Saw-nosed rays

Their second name is sawfish. They have a shark-like body and a long flat outgrowth in the form of its own snout, framed on the sides long teeth the same size. Outwardly, this outgrowth resembles a saw, for which these freshwater creatures were nicknamed sawfish. In principle, sawfish do not pose a serious danger to humans, but they appearance can scare even the most courageous diver. And all because in appearance they resemble exotic sharks. However, sharks, unlike sawfish, are not found in fresh waters. Remember this!

These animals hide at various ocean depths. Photos and videos of the inhabitants of the seabed may surprise you.

1. Lizard Shark

This shark lives thousands of meters below the surface of the water, but sometimes it surfaces. Perhaps to remind us how unusual the inhabitants of the ocean are. This rarely seen shark inhabits the depths of the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. Scientists believe that it catches its prey by bending its body and lunging forward, like a snake when attacking, to swallow the victim whole.

2. Deep-sea eel with a mouth like a pelican

An eel with a pelican's head. You can meet this creature at a depth of about one thousand meters; its body length reaches two meters. Bigmouth is probably one of the strangest looking deep sea creatures lurking in the depths of the ocean. With a huge mouth, the pelican is capable of swallowing things much larger than its own size.

3. Saberfish

Despite having such an aggressive-sounding name (its teeth, in proportion to its body, are the largest of any ocean creature), the Sabretooth is quite small and harmless to humans. Horrifying looking, but safe. This is one of the deepest sea animals. A fish with monstrous fangs was discovered at a depth of more than 5,000 meters, where the pressure is 500 times higher than on Earth. A person in such conditions would be flattened like a pancake.

4. Viperfish from the Pacific Ocean

While during the day the viper fish remains in the depths, at night it moves to shallower territory, often getting caught in the nets of sea fishermen. They do not survive in captivity, but this way they were studied in more detail. With its appearance, the viper fish fully deserves a place on the list of sea monsters. The Pacific viperfish lives at depths of over one thousand meters and attracts prey with an insidious light.

5. Monkfish

Named for its methods of searching for prey, the anglerfish, or monkfish, uses a fleshy appendage protruding from the top of its head as bait to attract its prey. The monkfish lives at a depth of 2000 meters and attracts its prey in a similar way, using light, like the viper fish. The only difference is that the strange glowing antenna comes out of his head. This makes him look like the scary predator from the cartoon Finding Nemo.

6. Stargazer fish or seabird

The astrologer buries itself in the sand and waits for its prey. Its head always remains up and its eyes look up, and its body structure is ideal for this hunting technique. These fish make their way underground in the sand and leap upward to attack their prey as it swims by. In addition, some varieties are electric and are capable of shocking the victim.

7. Giant Spider Crab

This is the largest crab existing on the planet. It lives approximately 300 meters below sea level, and its claws grow over three meters long.

8. Giant isopod

You can see this arthropod with a 30-centimeter body at a level of more than 2000 meters under water. First and foremost, he is a scavenger with a ferocious appetite.

9. Goblin shark or goblin shark

Little is known about this deep sea creature, as only a few specimens have ever been caught by fishing boats, but those rare sightings have been enough to earn it a fearsome reputation. With a prominent snout and retractable jaws, physical characteristics goblin sharks are worthy of its name. The goblin shark reaches up to 3.5 meters in length and lives more than 1,300 meters below the sea surface.

10. Giant squid Architeuthis

Rarely seen by humans, the giant squid has become the stuff of legends over the centuries. It lives deep underwater, its only real enemy is the sperm whale. In fact, these two giants are known for their deep naval battles, and their bodies are often found with signs of mortal combat. The length of this giant squid reaches 18 meters, which is equivalent to a six-story building.

11. Blind lobster Dinochelus ausubeli

This lobster was discovered only in 2007 in the depths of the ocean near the Philippines.

12. Large Mouth Shark

Since opening in 1976, this extremely rare view The deep-sea shark has rarely been spotted by humans and there is as yet no agreement in the scientific community as to how to actually classify it. The most distinctive feature is her gaping mouth, which largemouth shark used to swallow plankton and fish. The pelagic largemouth shark grows up to 5.5 meters, and the rare deep-sea animal feeds on plankton.

13. Giant marine polychaete worm

The length of an adult predator can reach an incredible 2-3 meters, and its appearance will make you truly horrified.

14. Dragon fish

Despite the fact that it lives at depths of almost two kilometers, the dragon fish is born from eggs actually on the surface of the ocean. Like many other deep-sea creatures, she eventually becomes capable of creating her own light, using a technique known as bioluminescence, and then retreats into the depths. One of the many light-emitting photophores can be found on the barbel attached to the lower jaw, which the dragonfish most likely uses to search for food.

15. Vampire Squid

With the most big eyes(in proportion to the body) than any animal in the world, it is deep-sea sea ​​creature born to live in the depths. And despite the name, the vampire does not suck blood; in fact, its tentacles do not have suction cups. The squid's name comes from its intensely red eyes and cape.

16. Big red jellyfish

This is amazing big jellyfish can grow over one meter in length and has a distinctive red coloration. Instead of tentacles, deep sea sea ​​jellyfish uses a series of fleshy “arms” to capture its prey.

17. Drop fish

Primarily found in the deep waters off Australia and New Zealand, the blobfish lives at depths of more than 1,200 meters. The pressure here is several dozen times higher than at the surface, so its body is a gelatinous mass.

18. Coffin fish

Reminiscent of pink balloon, these deep sea hunters are something of a mixture of dogfish and monkfish. Although they lure their prey using bloat, they also transform into a ball when threatened.

19. Chimera fish

To avoid being confused with a chimera from Greek mythology These creatures are also known as phantom sharks, and although they live in all layers of the oceans, today they are mainly limited to the deep sea level.

20. Amphipod

Although these tiny crustaceans are usually no larger than an inch, in the depths of the Pacific Ocean floor, about 6 kilometers from the surface, they can grow up to 30 centimeters in length.

21. Dumbo the Octopus

Named after the elephant in the Disney film, this octopus isn't quite as terrifying as the frillied shark, but it looks just as scary from the outside.

22. Snaggletooth

There's no way to describe this deep sea creature without using some "very ugly" words. Like several other species on this list, due to living in such depths, the snaggletooth is capable of creating its own light and uses this ability to search for prey.

23. Axefish

To avoid confusion with the freshwater carnegiella found in many home aquariums, this species is named because distinctive shape bodies in the form of an axe. Living at extreme depths, the fish has two tubular eyes that point upward to make it easier to catch food coming from above.

24. Opisthoproct

Also known as ghost fish, these strange-looking creatures are similar to hatchet fish in that they have two upward-pointing eyes to better locate prey. Their distinctive feature, however, is the transparent head.

25. Grenadier fish

One of the more prominent deep sea inhabitants, the grenadier is estimated to make up about 15 percent of the deep sea population. Grenadiers can be found at depths greater than 6 kilometers; there are few other creatures that can survive in such a hostile environment.

26. Blue-ringed octopuses

Although it may not look as physically imposing as some of the other creatures on this list, the blue-ringed octopus is one of the most dangerous animals in the ocean. Its poison is extremely powerful and there is no antidote for it.

27. Black Crookshanks

The Black Crookshank is famous for its ability to swallow prey that is much larger than itself. It is small in size, but can actually swallow prey ten times its own weight.