Creepy Sea Creatures You (Probably) Didn’t Know Existed
Life is better at the beach; However, it is also true that in the ocean, there is a large number of creepy sea creatures, which may well be called sea monsters, which we did not know existed and which, thanks to being faced by divers, have been captured on camera! Are you ready to meet some of these strange-looking aquatic creatures? Unexpected, extraordinary animals, masters of camouflage, never known and recently discovered in the underwater world? So, let's discover together the Creepy Sea Creatures You Probably Didn't Know Existed
11 The Yeti Crab
The scientific name of this strange crustacean is Kiwa hirsuta, but it is better known the Yeti Crab, for the silky blonde hairs that cover its legs and its thoracic claws, which resemble the skin of the mythical Yeti.
It was discovered in the South Pacific Ocean, in 2005. the length of a pencil, it has very small eyes and no pigment, which is why it is said to be blind. It is believed to be primarily carnivorous, eating small shrimp but it has been seen feeding on green algae too.
10 The Blue Sea Dragon
If we talk about the food chain, surely we imagine large animals devouring the weakest to survive. But this is not the case with the blue dragon, as this chilling little animal directly attacks the largest and most dangerous creatures it can find and, if there is none nearby, it faces other blue dragons.
Blue dragons feed on the tentacles of false jellyfish or men-o-war, absorbing their venom, which they store in their bodies and do not hesitate to use in self-defense when they feel attacked.
As if this were not enough, unlike sea slugs, blue dragons do not crawl along the bottom of the sea, instead they swallow an air bubble, to float just below the surface of the water. When seen from below, they look like spiders walking on a mirror, they just let themselves be carried by the waves and eat in their path, whatever they come across.
9 The Wonderpus
Despite having a very cool name, loving to be photographed and quite photogenic, wonderpuses are anything but cute animals.
They were discovered in 2006 and have been recognized as stealth hunters and masters of camouflage art ever since, managing to fade their bright colors when mixed with sand and coral. They attack at dawn and dusk and drag their prey along the seabed, while gliding on their long flattened tentacles.
Wonderpuses have totally unique white spot patterns on their backs, sort of like their fingerprint, but when they feel attacked, they all radiate a violent and imposing glow of red and orange, warning predators to stay away from them. Also, like most octopuses, they are quite smart, have been seen building a coral wall to hide behind it.
8 The Emperor Shrimp
In the sea you can find fish and animals of different sizes and colors, but the emperor shrimp, far from being a creepy creature, is striking because it is a small and colorful animal that looks more like a candy than a living critter.
Being so bright and eye-catching must have an important reason, but although emperor shrimp have been studied since 1967, little is known about the reason for their interesting appearance. We know that it lives on the back of the nudibranch, a type of sea slug, which absorbs toxins from its food, for this reason this sticky animal has almost no predators, which avoids the emperor shrimp the need to camouflage and, and thus, it allows him to walk around, showing off its striking color.
7 The Mimic Octopus
Octopuses are recognized for their great ability to camouflage themselves to avoid danger or to stalk their prey; however, there is a species known as a mime octopus that wins the award as master of disguise. And it is that this type of octopus is not only capable of changing color but also can change the texture of its skin, adopt the body shape of up to fifteen totally different marine species and imitate their behavior. For example: If the mime octopus wants to copy a lionfish, it simply arranges its arms so that they look like long spines; if you want to look like a sea serpent, hide six of its arms and stretch the other two. All of this allows it to move freely through the ocean, while keeping predators away, thus avoiding becoming dinner.
6 Mr. Blobby
New Zealand, In 2003, the crew of the NORFANZ expedition was sailing in the depths of more than the length of a soccer field, when they encountered a never-before-seen fish, resembling a puffer fish, but gelatinous in appearance. So surprised were they, that they wanted to show it to the world, so they decided to take it with them and baptized it Mr. Blobby.
As if being weird wasn't enough, ten years after its discovery, Mr. Blobby won a contest that probably nobody wanted to win, the first place as the ugliest animal in the world, held by Ugly Animal Preservation Society based in the UK and since then its official mascot *.
Psychrolutes marcidus, it is the length of a large notebook. Although it is not easy to find, however, it is possible to find it on T-shirts and even stuffed animals. And while this fish is not edible, it does have its own Cafe in London called Blobfish Cafe, which opened couple of years ago
5 The Eastern Pacific Black Ghost Shark
Deep in the California coast a shark was found in 2009, It is said to belong to the group of animals called chimeras, belonging to the oldest group of fish alive today. Some scientists believe that the black ghost sharks of the eastern Pacific separated from sharks approximately 400 million years ago and, by living at such great depths, it managed to survive. Thanks to the shape of its fins, this species of shark seems to be able to "fly" through the water, which, added to its dark color, gives it a ghostly appearance. The male's sexual organ is stick-shaped, protruding from its forehead like a marlin and retractable. It can used it to lure females closer or to stimulate them, we really don't know enough about them to be sure.
4 The Dumbo Octopus
This cute marine animal, which was first seen in 1999 and captured on camera in 2009, is the deepest species of octopus, a depth as long as las Vegas strip, it can live that far below the surface or the ocean. Its huge fins, located on each side of its head, in the shape of a bell, look like two giant ears, for this reason it is known as the Dumbo octopus. Of this monumental octopus, up to 37 species have been found, all with the ability to float on the sea floor, thanks to a kind of jet propulsion, they feed on crustaceans, snails and other animals that live there and never see the light of day.
3 The Bigfin Squid
Calamari is delicious, you can eat them roasted or fried ... For the most part, you see squid the size of a forearm and rarely as big as an adult human, but what would you do if you came across one the size of a long bus? Giant squids have been found in the depths of the ocean, although the images have been of poor quality, they allowed us to calculate their size, approximately the length of a school bus, with the head like that of a torpedo, when the squid extends its 8 arms, you can see a kind of strange "elbows", weird right? 2007, Gulf of Mexico, the incredible squid was possible to be recorded on the ocean floor of a drilling site owned by the Shell Oil Company. Located in the deep waters of Houston Tx. Others have been spotted of the coast of Japan. But there are stories or even larger ones… could the mythological kraken be real?
2 The Mosasaur
A hybrid-looking creature, like a crocodile mixed with a barracuda and the size of a blue whale ... the movies show him even bigger and hunting the megalodon, the great-grandfather of the white shark, but bigger, much bigger ...
Although the movies make the mosasaur look like a terrible monster. If you saw it in person, you would surely be petrifying! Although it is drawn as a crocodile-skinned beast, in reality, like a fish, its skin was covered in small scales and was relatively smooth. However, the truth is that it would be nothing fun to meet this terrifying animal at the bottom of the sea.
1 Fukushima's Giant Wolffish
Many people in the world make their living from fishing, but not everyone can celebrate the fact of encountering a wolffish, a creepy animal with huge jaws, crowded with teeth similar to those of a dog, with a predatory instinct like that of a hungry wolf.
A Japanese fisherman, Hirasaka Hiroshio, is dedicated to traveling, fishing, and eating the strangest fish in the world. In 2015, it was news, when he saw a huge wolffish off the coast of Hokkaido and, although its enormous size was quite striking, what caused the most stir was the place where it had been found: very close to Fukushima, city where a huge nuclear power plant disaster occurred in 2011.
The fish was giant and very heavy! Wolffish are typically three feet long and weigh approximately 30 kilograms (60 pounds). The fish caught by Hiroshio was twice as large and heavy. Although it may only be a case of abundant food, time to grow and good genes, it was even speculated that this creature may have suffered from a deformity called gigantism, one of the side effects of radioactive contamination. But, According to science, gigantism is not caused by radiation, what is more, there has been research that shows otherwise. The species were reduced in size after radiation. Whatever the reason for its enormous size, we don't know if the lucky fisherman set him free or took him to his table.
It would be quite scary to encounter any of the incredibly strange animals we talked about today. What has not been discovered yet, what else could be waiting for us to capture it on camera? If we keep the oceans nice and clean, we may be amazed at the number of creatures we thought where extinct that we may see again or even others we have not been introduced to yet. Either way, its our job to keep the ocean happy and clean, we need them to sustain life!
