Rare fish in the depths of the sea (10 photos). Rare fish with striking behavior and unusual appearance

1. Ambon Scorpionfish (Latin: Pteroidichthys amboinensis).

Opened in 1856. Easily identified by its huge “eyebrows” - specific growths above the eyes. Able to change color and shed. Conducts a “guerrilla” hunt - camouflaging at the bottom and waiting for the victim. It is not uncommon and has been quite well studied, but its extravagant appearance simply cannot be ignored! (Roger Steene/Conservation International)

2. Psychedelic frogfish (English: Psychedelic Frogfish, Latin: Histiophryne psychedelica).

Opened in 2009. A very unusual fish - the tail fin is curved to the side, the pectoral fins are modified and look like the paws of land animals. The head is large, the widely spaced eyes are directed forward, like in vertebrates, due to which the fish has a peculiar “facial expression”. The color of the fish is yellow or reddish with sinuous white-blue stripes diverging into different sides from the eyes blue color. Unlike other fish that swim, this species moves as if jumping, pushing off the bottom with its pectoral fins and pushing water out of the gill slits, creating jet thrust. The tail of the fish is curved to the side and cannot directly direct the movement of the body, so it oscillates from side to side. The fish can also crawl along the bottom using its pectoral fins, moving them like legs. (David Hall/EOL Rapid Response Team)

3. Rag picker (English: Leafy Seadragon, Latin: Phycodurus eques).

Opened in 1865. Representatives of this type of fish are notable for the fact that their entire body and head are covered with processes that imitate algae thalli. Although these processes are similar to fins, they do not take part in swimming and serve for camouflage (both when hunting shrimp and for protection from enemies). It lives in the waters of the Indian Ocean, washing southern, south-eastern and south-western Australia, as well as northern and eastern Tasmania. It feeds on plankton, small shrimp, and algae. Having no teeth, the rag picker swallows its food whole. (lecates/Flickr)

4. Moonfish (English: Ocean Sunfish, Latin: Mola mola).

Opened in 1758. The laterally compressed body is extremely high and short, which gives the fish an extremely strange appearance: it resembles a disk in shape. The tail is very short, wide and truncated; the dorsal, caudal and anal fins are interconnected. The skin of the moonfish is thick and elastic, covered with small bony tubercles. The sunfish can often be seen lying on its side on the surface of the water. The adult sunfish is a very poor swimmer, unable to overcome strong currents. It feeds on plankton, as well as squid, eel larvae, salps, ctenophores and jellyfish. It can reach gigantic sizes of several tens of meters and weigh 1.5 tons. (Franco Banfi)

5. Broadnose chimaera (lat. Rhinochimaera atlantica).

Opened in 1909. Absolutely disgusting looking jelly fish. Lives on deep bottom Atlantic Ocean and feeds on shellfish. Extremely poorly studied. (Jay Burnett, NOAA/NMFS/NEFSC)

6. Frilled Shark (Latin: Chlamydoselachus anguineus).

Opened in 1884. These sharks look much more like a strange sea snake or eel than their closest relatives. In the frilled shark, the gill openings, of which there are six on each side, are covered with skin folds. In this case, the membranes of the first gill slit cross the throat of the fish and are connected to each other, forming a wide skin blade. Along with the goblin shark, it is one of the rarest sharks on the planet. No more than a hundred specimens of these fish are known. They have been studied extremely poorly. (Awashima Marine Park/Getty Images)

7. Indonesian coelacanth (English: Indonesian Coelacanth, Latin: Latimeria menadoensis).

Opened in 1999. A living fossil and probably the oldest fish on Earth. Before the discovery of the first representative of the coelant order, which includes the coelacanth, it was considered completely extinct. Time of divergence of two modern species coelacanth is 30-40 million years old. No more than a dozen were caught alive. (Pearson - Benjamin Cummings)

8. Hairy Angler (lat. Caulophryne polynema).

Opened in 1930. Very strange and scary fish that live on the deep bottom, where there is no sunlight - from 1 km and deeper. To lure the inhabitants of the deep sea, it uses a special luminous growth on the forehead, characteristic of the entire order of anglerfish. Thanks to its special metabolism and extremely sharp teeth, it can eat anything it comes across, even if the prey is many times larger and is also a predator. It reproduces no less strangely than it looks and eats - because it is unusual harsh conditions and the rarity of fish, the male (ten times smaller than the female) attaches himself to the flesh of his chosen one and transmits everything necessary through the blood. (BBC)

9. Blobfish (Latin: Psychrolutes marcidus).

Opened in 1926. Often mistaken for a joke. In fact, it's completely real view deep-sea bottom sea fish of the psycholute family, which on the surface take on a “jelly” appearance with a “sad expression.” It has been poorly studied, but this is enough to recognize it as one of the most bizarre. The photo shows a copy of the Australian Museum. (Kerryn Parkinson/Australian Museum)

10. Smallmouth macropinna (English, Latin Macropinna microstoma) - winner for quirkiness.

Opened in 1939. It lives at very great depths, so it has been poorly studied. In particular, the principle of fish vision was not entirely clear. It was believed that she must experience very great difficulties due to the fact that she can only see up. Only in 2009 was the structure of the eye of this fish fully studied. Apparently, when trying to study it earlier, the fish simply could not tolerate the change in pressure. The most notable feature of this species is the transparent, dome-shaped shell that covers the top and sides of its head, and the large, usually upward-pointing, cylindrical eyes that lie underneath this shell. A dense and elastic covering shell is attached to the scales of the back at the back, and on the sides to the wide and transparent periocular bones, which provide protection for the organs of vision. This covering structure is usually lost (or at least very badly damaged) when fish are brought to the surface in trawls and nets, so its existence was not known until recently. Under the covering shell there is a chamber filled with a transparent liquid, in which, in fact, the eyes of the fish are located; The eyes of living fish are bright green and separated by a thin bony septum, which, extending backwards, expands to accommodate the brain. In front of each eye, but behind the mouth, is a large, rounded pouch that contains an olfactory receptor rosette. That is, what at first glance appears to be eyes in photographs of live fish is actually an olfactory organ. Green caused by the presence of a specific yellow pigment in them. It is believed that this pigment provides special filtering of light coming from above and reduces its brightness, allowing the fish to discern the bioluminescence of potential prey. (Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute)

Perhaps the most little-explored and bizarre world can be found in the depths of the planet’s waters. After all, it is much easier to study land; a person practically does not need special equipment, which cannot be said about the seas and oceans. But with the development of technological progress, the study of reservoirs has become more accessible, and scientists are discovering more and more unusual fish every year.

Scientists are discovering more and more unusual fish every year.

Sea life

Nai more interesting fish found in seas and oceans. Sometimes they are so amazing that it is difficult for a person to believe in their existence, but these species are truly open and officially confirmed.

Usually interesting sea ​​fish They live at a decent depth, and it is almost impossible for people who are far from diving to meet them. However, some people are lucky to have such meetings, which is confirmed by many photos on the Internet. Today's top 8 bizarre sea creatures look something like this:

• psychedelic frogfish;
• largemouth;
• horned box;
• king angelfish;
• stone fish;
• drop;
• blue royal surgeon.

Usually, interesting sea fish live at a decent depth, and it is almost impossible for people who are far from diving to meet them.

Psychedelic frog fish

This species was first discovered in 1988 on the shores of the Indonesian Ocean near the island of Bali, but these fish were forgotten for twenty years and were remembered again thanks to divers. Their meeting took place in 2008, when the fish attracted attention with its unusual method of movement. Then the athletes compared it to a tennis ball.

It is not only the movement that is of interest, but also the appearance. The fish is small in size, the whole body is covered with stripes of yellow, white and brown. In addition, each representative of this species has such an individual pattern that it is often compared to fingerprints in terms of uniqueness. The fish has a large head with small eyes located symmetrically in front, like those of mammals.

The frogfish belongs to the family of anglerfish, but instead of a “fishing rod” to attract prey, an unusual coloring “works”, allowing it to easily blend into the reefs.

Another unusual fish species. It’s difficult to call him beautiful; rather, he inspires at least fear, and even horror. The inhabitant of the deep sea looks like a huge beak with a tail and luminous jaws. Perhaps he would become a worthy rival to the white shark from the movie “Jaws”, because he has the same look. The skin of the Big Mouth is thick and tough, brown in color, the mouth is red, and the body ends with a caudal fin, more like a snake's tail.

Largemouth is a bottom-dwelling creature that lives at depths of up to 3000 meters. At the tip of the tail it has a luminous element that attracts prey. He is able to eat an individual much larger than himself, because his stomach, like a snake’s, stretches to required sizes and digests everything that gets into it.

Largemouth is a bottom-dwelling creature that lives at depths of up to 3000 meters.

Horned box

This fish lives among the reefs of the Red Sea, as well as in the Pacific, Indian and Atlantic Oceans. But it can often be found in the personal collections of aquarists, although it is quite difficult to maintain this species.

The body is medium in size and has a good-natured character. Outwardly, it looks like a box with horns of a slightly strange shape. Her body is covered with a shell consisting of six plates. The horned body is attractive in appearance: it is bright yellow with blue spots, puffy lips and transparent fins. Eyes of normal shape.

But external beauty hides danger, because the fish’s body has glands that produce a poisonous secretion called tetrodotoxin, so you need to be careful when meeting or keeping such an unusual pet at home.

Mandarin duck - reef beauty

Stunningly beautiful fish. With her modest size (only 6 cm), she simply basks in the attention of fans. And this is not surprising, because its colors are very unusual and beautiful. The predominant color is blue, covering most of the body and the edges of the fins, but there are also many stripes and spots of white, red, yellow and black. The fins are predominantly yellow and fiery color interspersed with black threads. The nose and mouth are greenish. The eyes are protruding and quite large.

The mandarin duck lives in shallow water and loves warm water.

The fish lives among the reefs, because it’s not for nothing that it has such bright colors, which helps it blend in among the multicolored sea ridge and hunt successfully. It lives in the Sea of ​​Japan and the Pacific Ocean from Japan to Australia.

Royal angel

Another beautiful representative of marine fauna. Like the mandarin duck, it has a bright color, but its size reaches 25 cm. Its body is elongated and flattened. The belly, caudal fin and head are yellow. From the back to the middle of the body the fish is covered with vertical stripes of black, white, yellow and blue, there are also blue spots on the top of the head. The dorsal fin is oval-shaped with a bright blue edging, the anal fin is also large, but more elongated.

They live in the Red Sea and east coast Africa, can often be found in areas with a large number of caves and crevices, where fish look for food. The Royal Angel is non-aggressive, but prefers solitude, although it can live in pairs.

Stone or wart

Already from the name it is clear that This creature is not at all attractive in appearance. In addition, it also has poisonous spines on its back. Dark colors predominate brown colors. The whole body is covered with growths. The head is large, with barely noticeable eyes and a large mouth.

The stonefish is small, grows up to 50 cm, and is a predator. It eats small fish and crustaceans that were careless enough to swim too quickly, because the wart is not able to catch up with its prey on its own. She leads a sedentary lifestyle, prefers to bury herself in the sand and wait for food to come into her mouth. Most often it lives in the shallow waters of the Red Sea and the waters of Indonesia. It is interesting that the stone fish is able to change its skin several times during its life cycle.

By the way, fish is also dangerous for humans. When threatened, it raises its dorsal spines, and its inconspicuous appearance makes it difficult to notice. The toxins contained on the thorns affect a person, causing painful shock and sometimes cardiac arrest. You need to be especially careful during low tides, because warts can live on land for at least a day.

The stonefish is small, grows up to 50 cm, and is a predator.

Drop - a sad sea resident

The expression on the “face” of this fish can hardly be called happy. She has a large mouth with downturned corners, a “potato” nose and small piggy eyes. The color of the fish is either pink or brown.

The drop is a bottom inhabitant, has a size of no more than 50 cm and has vague shapes, as the name suggests. Moreover, the density of the body is quite viscous, somewhat reminiscent of floating jellied meat. The fish lacks scales and muscles, but in its case this is an advantage that allows the fish not to waste its energy.

Her way of life has not been studied, because it is extremely difficult to go down to where she lives, and she is not at all drawn to the surface. It rarely rises to a depth of 500-600 meters, and it is at such moments that it is caught by fishermen, as happened when they met it more than 100 years ago.

The drop is a bottom inhabitant, has a size of no more than 50 cm and has vague shapes, as the name suggests.

Surgeon blue royal

This fish is known to many from the cartoon “Finding Nemo”. It has a memorable appearance thanks to its bright colors. As the name suggests, the main color is bright blue. It colors most of the body, as well as the dorsal and anal fin. There is a wide black stripe on the back with a blue spot closer to the eye. The stripe bifurcates toward the tail and borders the yellow caudal fin; the pectoral fins are also yellow.

The head of the fish, like the whole body, is flattened, the eyes are large, dark, the forehead is wide and convex. The mouth, on the contrary, is modest in size. Body in natural conditions reaches 25 cm in length.

It lives near the Great Barrier Reef near Australia and in the center of the Indo-Pacific. The fish leads an active lifestyle and is non-conflicting. She will not look for trouble herself, but in the event of an attack she will always respond to the offender.

Aquarium species

There are a lot of beautiful and unusual fish among the aquarium fish. This is not surprising, because this is why aquariums and oceanariums are set up at home - to admire the beauty of aquatic inhabitants within the confines of your own apartment.

Today there are more than 22 thousand species. Among them there are simpler ones, with not very bright colors, and there are also those that will not leave any person indifferent due to their beauty and grace. It is quite difficult to consider all the attractive creatures in one article, but we can highlight the top 5, those with the most votes:

Of course, for each person, depending on his taste preferences, the top may look completely different. But no one can argue with the fact that these fish are stunningly beautiful, because they have:

• bright colors;
• smooth curves;
• gorgeous fins.

There are a huge number of living organisms living on Earth, and they all have their own characteristic features. Thanks to this, each type can be called unusual and attention-grabbing, atypical and immediately memorable in appearance.

on Earth, and some fish are definitely more unusual and scary than others. Below you will find a list of the TOP 11 most unusual, terrible and amazing fish in the World Ocean, ranging from the laughable blob fish to the nightmarish goblin shark and stargazer.

1. Blobfish

In his natural environment habitat at ocean depths from 900 to 1200 meters, drop fish ( Psychrolutes marcidus) looks almost like an ordinary fish, but when it appears on the surface, its body expands and the fish turns into a comical creature with big nose. This is because the blobfish's gelatinous flesh evolved to withstand intense deep-sea pressure while allowing it to float on the seabed. Torn out of its familiar environment, the blobfish swells into a real monster. You may not have noticed, but the blob fish appeared in the Chinese restaurant scene in the third movie Men in Black, yet most people thought it was a special computer effect and not a real animal!

2. Asian sheephead wrasse

We know little about these fish, but it is likely that their huge forehead and chin are a sexual characteristic of dominance: males (or perhaps females) with larger head growths are considered more attractive to the opposite sex during mating season (one piece of evidence The support for this hypothesis is that the newly hatched Asian sheephead wrasses have normal heads).

3. Cube body

The marine analogue of the rectangular watermelons that are sold in Japan is the cube-shaped fish ( Ostracion cubicus) often visits coral reefs Indian and Pacific oceans, feeding on algae and small fish. No one is sure how or why the cube body was distorted classic fish with flat, narrow bodies, but their maneuverability in the water appears to depend more on their fins than on their body shape. An interesting fact is that in 2006, Mercedes-Benz introduced the Bionic concept car, modeled after a cube-shaped fish (if you've never heard of the Bionic, that's because the car was a true evolutionary failure compared to its more successful inspiration ).

4. Psychedelic frog fish

Discovered in 2009 in Indonesian waters, psychedelic frogfish ( Histiophrine psychedelica) have a large flat face, Blue eyes, a giant mouth and, most importantly, a striped white-orange-brown pattern that supposedly allows it to blend in with the surrounding corals. For any potential prey who is not properly hypnotized, the psychedelic frogfish also possesses a tiny "luring appendage" on its head that resembles a wriggling worm.

5. Redfin opah

In terms of its appearance, the redfin opah ( Lampris guttatus) will surprise few people. You may have seen these fish in large aquariums. What makes the redfin opah truly unusual fish is not outside, but inside: this is the first identified species of warm-blooded fish, that is, they are independently capable of maintaining their internal body temperature 10 ° C higher than the temperature surrounding water. This unique physiology gives the redfin opah greater energy (they are known to migrate thousands of kilometers) and also supports them in extreme deep-sea habitats. The hard question is, if warm-blooded metabolism is a beneficial adaptation, then why are other fish cold-blooded?

6. Goblin Shark

Deep-sea analogue of Alien from film director Ridley Scott, goblin shark ( Mitsukurina owstoni) is characterized by a long narrow muzzle on the top of the head and sharp protruding teeth below. When this shark is within range of its prey, it pushes out its lower jaws and captures the prey. However, do not be afraid, the goblin shark is unusually lazy and relatively slow and would probably not be able to outrun a frightened person. Surprisingly Mitsukurina owstoni is probably the only living shark that flourished during the early 125 million years ago, which explains its fearsome appearance and feeding habits.

7. Striped catfish

Striped catfish ( Anarhicas lupus) made this list for two reasons. Firstly, this fish has a pair of extraordinary terrible jaws, with sharp incisors in front and chewing teeth at the back, which are ideal for and. Secondly, and more astonishingly, the striped catfish lives in such icy Atlantic waters that it is forced to produce its own "antifreeze proteins" that prevent the blood from freezing at temperatures of -1° C. As you might expect, this strange chemical component makes the striped catfish unsuitable as food for humans, but they are so often caught in deep-sea trawl nets that they are endangered.

8. Red pacu

Red pacu ( Piaractus brachypomus) looks like something out of a nightmare, or at least a mutant from a David Cronenberg film: this South American fish has unusual human-like teeth. Oddly enough, red pacu are sold as "vegetarian piranhas" in some pet stores, whose owners often neglect to inform their customers that these fish are capable of inflicting serious, crushing bites on the fingers of their owners, and a 10-centimeter young pacu can quickly outgrow the size of its aquarium. demanding large and expensive dwellings.

9. Spiny-nosed Whiteblood

Almost all animals on Earth use the protein hemoglobin to carry oxygen, which gives blood its characteristic red color. But the spiny-nosed whiteblood ( Chionodraco rastrospinosus) fully lives up to its name, since due to the lack of hemoglobin, its blood is colorless. This amazing Antarctic fish uses whatever oxygen dissolves in its blood directly from its oversized gills. The advantage of this adaptation is that clear blood is less viscous and is more easily pumped throughout the body; The disadvantage is that the spiny-nosed whiteblood must lead a sedentary lifestyle, since prolonged bursts of activity quickly deplete oxygen reserves.

10. Common Vandellia

Described by one naturalist as “the most complex creature in creation,” the stargazer fish has two large, bulging eyes and one huge mouth on top, rather than in front, of its head. The Stargazer burrows into the ocean floor, from where it pounces on unsuspecting victims. Well, that's not all the weirdness: these scary fish also grow two poisonous spines above their dorsal fins, and some species can even generate mild electric shocks. Surprisingly, stargazers are considered a delicacy in Asian countries. If you don't mind having your dinner staring back at you from your plate, and you're confident the chef has successfully removed its toxic organs, don't hesitate to order a meal from Stargazer on your next trip to Asia.

Seas and oceans occupy more than half the area of ​​our planet, but they are still shrouded in mysteries for humanity. We strive to conquer space and are looking for extraterrestrial civilizations, but at the same time, only 5% of the world's oceans have been explored by humans. But this data is enough to be horrified by what creatures live deep underwater, where sunlight does not penetrate.

The chauliod family includes 6 species of deep-sea fish, but the most common of them is the common hauliod. These fish live in almost all waters of the world's oceans, with the exception of cold waters. northern seas and the Arctic Ocean.

Chauliodas got their name from the Greek words “chaulios” - open mouth, and “odous” - tooth. Indeed, these relatively small fish (about 30 cm in length) have teeth that can grow up to 5 centimeters, which is why their mouth never closes, creating a creepy grin. Sometimes these fish are called sea vipers.

Howliods live at depths from 100 to 4000 meters. At night they prefer to rise closer to the surface of the water, and during the day they descend into the very abyss of the ocean. Thus, during the day, fish make huge migrations of several kilometers. With the help of special photophores located on the hauliod's body, they can communicate with each other in the dark.

On dorsal fin The viper fish has one large photophore, with which it lures its prey directly to its mouth. After which, with a sharp bite of needle-sharp teeth, the hauliods paralyze the prey, leaving it no chance of salvation. The diet mainly includes small fish and crustaceans. According to unreliable data, some individuals of hauliods can live up to 30 years or more.

The longhorned sabertooth is another fearsome deep-sea predatory fish that lives in all four oceans. Although the saber tooth looks like a monster, it grows to a very modest size (about 15 centimeters in length). The head of the fish with a large mouth occupies almost half the length of the body.

The long-horned sabertooth got its name due to its long and sharp lower fangs, which are the largest in relation to body length among all fish known to science. The terrifying appearance of the sabertooth earned it the unofficial name - “monster fish”.

Adults can vary in color from dark brown to black. The younger representatives look completely different. They are light gray in color and have long spines on their heads. The sabertooth is one of the deepest-sea fish in the world; in rare cases, they descend to depths of 5 kilometers or more. The pressure at these depths is enormous, and the water temperature is about zero. There is catastrophically little food here, so these predators hunt for the first thing that gets in their way.

The size of the deep-sea dragon fish absolutely does not fit with its ferocity. These predators, which reach a length of no more than 15 centimeters, can eat prey two or even three times its size. The dragon fish lives in tropical zones The world's oceans at a depth of up to 2000 meters. The fish has a large head and a mouth equipped with many sharp teeth. Like the Howlyod, the dragonfish has its own bait for prey, which is a long whisker with a photophore at the end, located on the fish's chin. The hunting principle is the same as for all deep-sea individuals. Using a photophore, the predator lures the victim to the closest possible distance, and then with a sharp movement inflicts a fatal bite.

The deep-sea anglerfish is rightfully the ugliest fish in existence. There are about 200 species of anglerfish, some of which can grow up to 1.5 meters and weigh 30 kilograms. Due to its creepy appearance and bad character, this fish was nicknamed the monkfish. live deep sea anglerfish everywhere at a depth of 500 to 3000 meters. The fish has a dark brown color, a large flat head with many spines. The devil's huge mouth is studded with sharp and long teeth curved inward.

Deep-sea anglerfish have pronounced sexual dimorphism. Females are tens of times larger than males and are predators. Females have a rod with a fluorescent appendage at the end to attract fish. Anglerfish spend most of their time on the seabed, burrowing into sand and silt. Due to its huge mouth, this fish can completely swallow prey that is twice its size. That is, hypothetically, a large individual anglerfish could eat a person; Fortunately, there have never been such cases in history.

Probably the strangest inhabitant of the deep sea can be called the bagmouth or, as it is also called, the pelican-shaped largemouth. Due to its abnormally huge mouth with a bag and a tiny skull in relation to the length of the body, the bagmouth looks more like some kind of alien creature. Some individuals can reach two meters in length.

In fact, bagmouths belong to the class of ray-finned fish, but these monsters do not have too many similarities with the cute fish that live in warm sea backwaters. Scientists believe that the appearance of these creatures changed many thousands of years ago due to their deep-sea lifestyle. Bagmouths have no gill rays, ribs, scales or fins, and the body is oblong with a luminous appendage on the tail. If it were not for the large mouth, the bagmouth could easily be confused with an eel.

Bagworms live at depths from 2000 to 5000 meters in three world oceans, except the Arctic Ocean. Since there is very little food at such depths, bagmouths have adapted to long breaks in eating, which can last more than one month. These fish feed on crustaceans and other deep-sea brethren, mainly swallowing their prey whole.

The elusive giant squid, known to science as Architeuthis dux, is the world's largest mollusc and is thought to reach a length of 18 meters and weigh half a ton. To date, a live giant squid has never been captured by humans. Until 2004, there were no documented sightings of live giant squid at all, and general idea about these mysterious creatures It was based only on the remains washed ashore or caught in fishermen’s nets. Architeuthis live at depths of up to 1 kilometer in all oceans. In addition to their gigantic size, these creatures have the largest eyes among living creatures (up to 30 centimeters in diameter).

So in 1887, the largest specimen in history, 17.4 meters long, washed up on the shores of New Zealand. In the next century, only two large dead representatives of the giant squid were discovered - 9.2 and 8.6 meters. In 2006, Japanese scientist Tsunami Kubodera managed to capture on camera a living female 7 meters long in her natural habitat at a depth of 600 meters. The squid was lured to the surface by a small bait squid, but an attempt to bring a live specimen on board the vessel was unsuccessful - the squid died from multiple injuries.

Giant squids are dangerous predators, and their only natural enemy is adult sperm whales. There are at least two described cases of fight between squid and sperm whale. In the first, the sperm whale won, but soon died, suffocated by the giant tentacles of the mollusk. The second fight took place off the coast of South Africa, when a giant squid fought with a baby sperm whale, and after an hour and a half fight, it still killed the whale.

Giant isopod, known to science, like Bathynomus giganteus, is the largest species of crustacean. The average size of a deep-sea isopod ranges from 30 centimeters, but the largest recorded specimen weighed 2 kilograms and was 75 centimeters long. In appearance, giant isopods are similar to woodlice, and similar giant squid are a consequence of deep-sea gigantism. These crayfish live at depths from 200 to 2500 meters, preferring to bury themselves in silt.

The body of these creepy creatures is covered with hard plates that act as a shell. In case of danger, crayfish can curl into a ball and become inaccessible to predators. By the way, isopods are also predators and can feast on a few small deep-sea fish and sea cucumbers. Powerful jaws and durable armor make the isopod a dangerous opponent. Although giant crayfish love to feast on live food, they often have to eat the remains of shark prey that fall from upper layers ocean.

Coelacanth or coelacanth is a large deep sea fish, whose discovery in 1938 became one of the most important zoological discoveries of the 20th century. Despite its unattractive appearance, this fish is notable for the fact that for 400 million years it has not changed its appearance and body structure. In fact, this unique relict fish is one of the oldest living creatures on planet Earth, which existed long before the appearance of dinosaurs.

Coelacanth lives at a depth of up to 700 meters in the waters of the Indian Ocean. The length of the fish can reach 1.8 meters and weigh more than 100 kilograms, and the body has a beautiful blue tint. Since coelacanth is very slow, it prefers to hunt at great depths, where there is no competition with more fast predators. These fish can swim backwards or belly up. Despite the fact that the meat of the coelcanth is inedible, it is often the target of poaching among local residents. Currently ancient fish is in danger of extinction.

The deep sea goblin shark, or goblin shark as it is also called, is the most poorly studied shark to date. This species lives in the Atlantic and Indian Ocean at a depth of up to 1300 meters. The largest specimen was 3.8 meters long and weighed about 200 kilograms.

The goblin shark got its name due to its eerie appearance. Mitsekurina has movable jaws that move outward when bitten. The goblin shark was first accidentally caught by fishermen in 1898, and since then 40 more specimens of this fish have been caught.

Another relic representative sea ​​abyss is a one-of-a-kind detritivore cephalopod that has external resemblance, both with squid and octopus. The hellish vampire got its unusual name thanks to its red body and eyes, which, however, depending on the lighting, can be blue. Despite their terrifying appearance, these strange creatures They grow only up to 30 centimeters and, unlike other cephalopods, they eat exclusively plankton.

The body of the hellish vampire is covered with luminous photophores, which create bright flashes of light that scare away enemies. In case of exceptional danger, these small mollusks turn their tentacles along the body, becoming like a ball with spikes. Hellish vampires live at depths of up to 900 meters, and can thrive in water with an oxygen level of 3% or lower, critical for other animals.