Amazing fish. The most terrible fish in the world caught by humans (22 photos)

To date, more than 30,000 are known various types marine and freshwater fish. Scientists explore the World Ocean, discovering new species and gaining more knowledge about aquatic organisms already known to them. The most colorful and unique inhabitants of the underwater depths became known not so long ago. Rare fish prefer greater depths or live in coral reefs, which explains the riot of colors and their unusual behavior.

Very little is known about ocean depths, so it is impossible to determine exactly how many species live on the deep sea floor.

Rare river fish

Fresh water in rivers and lakes has a lower diversity of species, which is explained by difficult living conditions and active human influence. Only in remote regions, where rivers and lakes are inaccessible to humans and are not so studied, are various exotic rare fish found, which are distinguished by their unusual coloring or body shape, which is uncharacteristic for most species.

The category of rare and endangered species today includes most sturgeons, which are found in nature only in North America, in Russia, China, Iran and a number of other countries Southeast Asia. Today, there is active fishing for sturgeon, which has led to the almost complete destruction of most species of this valuable and rare fish.

Beluga – large predator, which feeds mainly on fish.

Rare sturgeons include:

Siberian sturgeon.
Paddlefish.
Stellate sturgeon.

One of the rarest and interesting species The sturgeon is the paddlefish, which lives in the Mississippi, and its subspecies are found in the Yangtze and other Chinese rivers. This fish is characterized by an enlarged nasal appendage, which in large specimens resembles an oar in appearance. The paddlefish is large in size and weighing up to 90 kilograms, and the rostrum, that is, an enlarged paddle-shaped nasal appendage, can account for one third of the entire body length.

Paddlefish are among the oldest fish, as evidenced by fossil records.

The blind cave fish, which lives in the subtropics of Thailand, is extremely interesting. During evolution, this species lost pigmentation and vision, gaining unique ability climb vertical surfaces. This unique skill is necessary for this fish, since it lives mainly in caves and has adapted to fast current underground streams.

The mudskipper is another extremely interesting one. freshwater fish. The body structure of the mudskipper resembles a cross between a frog and a tadpole. The fish belongs to the goby family and spends most of its life out of water, moving along clayey shores. On land, thanks to the unique structure of its body, the mudskipper can stay for up to half an hour or more.

Mudskippers can be found in mangroves along the coasts of Africa, India, and South Asia.

Exotic sea creatures

The depths of the sea are extremely rich in various exotic and rare species of fish. To date, no more than 20% of the World Ocean has been studied, so new ones are constantly being discovered. deep sea species, which amaze with their appearance, ability to live in complete darkness and under conditions of enormous pressure.

Ambona scorpion

This fish was discovered more than a century ago, but until now scientists have come across only a few specimens, on the basis of which this species was described.

Ambona scorpionfish has the ability to change body color.

TO characteristic features scorpionfish include:

frequent shedding of the keratinized body;
ability to change color;
the presence of specific growths above the eyes;
excellent camouflage abilities.

The Ambona scorpionfish prefers shallow depths and is found near southern coral reefs. Scorpionfish likes to hunt at the very bottom, burrowing into fine sand, luring prey with flexible appendages near the mouth. Ambona scorpionfish prefers exclusively clean warm water, so in recent years With the pollution of the World Ocean, the population of this fish has decreased significantly.

Sea sticktail

This is rare deep sea fish, which has a unique body structure. The stick-tail has a huge mouth in the form of a tubular opening, and its jaws extend into an expanding leather pouch. Such a bag works on the principle of a blacksmith's bellows and is capable of expanding several times, which allows the sticktail to catch and digest prey that is several times its size.

The length of the deep-sea sticktail can reach 10 meters. Moreover, the length of the tail of this fish is 5-6 meters. The tail is extremely hard and long, and its structure has not yet been studied by scientists. This fish was discovered about 20 years ago, and during this time scientists came across only three specimens, which were already dead and in poor condition. But it has still not been possible to capture the behavior of a living sticktail on camera.

Psychedelic toad fish attract attention with their unusual color, which resembles a complex pattern of stripes of white, brown and yellow flowers.

Psychedelic frog

This species of marine fish was discovered in 2009. The frogfish prefers great depths and has an unusual appearance, which allows it to camouflage itself against the background of the bottom and corals. The head is large in size, with wide-set eyes. The coloring of the psychedelic frog is extremely interesting- with reddish and yellowish sinuous stripes that extend from the eyes to different sides. The fins of the frog fish are modified and vaguely resemble the paws of land animals. Ichthyologists claim that this species is transitional between aquatic aquatic organisms and terrestrial animals.

Today, several color variations of this rare sea fish are known:

Yellow uniform with turquoise eyes and white lines.
Red variety with yellow stripes.
A dark form that can change color to almost black.

Body color largely depends on the general color range environment. On dark soil and at great depths, black forms are found, but in shallow water in coral reefs you can simultaneously see yellow and red colors.

The frogfish prefers a bottom lifestyle and is found at depths of about 200−500 meters. Young specimens often stay in shallow water near coral reefs, however, as they mature, they move to greater depths and lead a pronounced predatory lifestyle. It has been established that the habitat of the frogfish is the waters of Australia, as well as the tropical region of the Indian Ocean.

The leaf-like growths of the ragweed are ideal camouflage in its habitat.

Fish rag picker

This species was discovered in 1865, but until now scientists have come across only a few dozen specimens of these fish, which is explained by their secretive lifestyle and strictly limited habitat. This species is notable for the fact that its entire body, fins, tail and head are covered with processes that imitate various algae. Such processes perfectly camouflage ragpickers during their hunt for shrimp and other crustaceans.

The rag picker's habitat is the Indian Ocean and the southeast coast of Australia. The fish leads a hidden lifestyle, prefers clean and warm coastal waters, hiding in corals during the day and going hunting for small plankton and crustaceans at night.

The sunfish is the largest bony fish in the world by mass; average adult fish weigh about 1 ton, and the record specimen caught off Sydney reached a mass of 2235 kg.

Moonfish

This species was discovered back in the 18th century, when this fish was found everywhere. Today, with the pollution of the World Ocean and active fishing, sunfish are becoming less and less common. This species is large in size and has a tall, short, laterally compressed body. Moonfish can reach gigantic size with a body diameter of tens of meters and a weight of up to one and a half tons. Adults feed on jellyfish, eels, squid and various plankton. The moonfish is a poor swimmer, so it does not like strong currents, and often simply lies on the very surface of the water surface.

The thorn is a semi-anadromous fish, as it winters in rivers.

Broad-nosed chimera

The broad-nosed chimera prefers the depths of the Atlantic Ocean, where it feeds on a variety of mollusks. To date, scientists have come across only a few specimens of this extremely rare fish. Its peculiarity is its jelly-like body, which, when raised to the surface, quickly dissolves into the chimera's bony skeleton.

The difficulty of studying this species is explained by its way of life, when the chimera practically does not appear at depths of less than 1000 meters. Only with the development of special technology were scientists able to see it in natural environment at depths of more than one and a half thousand meters.

The frilled shark is a very rare species of shark and looks more like an eel.

Frilled shark

This view deep sea sharks was opened in 1884. In appearance, adult individuals more closely resemble an eel or a strange sea snake. The gill openings, of which there are 6 on each side of the body, are covered with skin folds. Membranes and gill slits are also found in the shark's throat, connecting into a wide leathery blade. This is one of the rarest species of sharks, found only at great depths. To date, the frilled shark has been poorly studied, and in total, scientists have come across about 100 specimens of this rare species of predator.

Coelacanth lives at depths of up to 100 m or more, length more than 1.8 m, weight up to 90 kg.

Indonesian coelacanth

The Indonesian coelacanth was discovered in 1999. This fish belongs to the coelant family and is the oldest described aquatic organism on earth. Previously, it was believed that all representatives of the coelant order became extinct before the appearance of dinosaurs. Studies have shown that this species appeared approximately 40 million years ago.

To date, no more than a dozen specimens of Indonesian coelacanth have been caught. Coelacanth has a strange body shape with modified lower fins that vaguely resemble the limbs of ancient fossils. Internal structure coelacanth has an extremely unusual thing - something between the structure of terrestrial animals and classic fish.

European anglerfish lives on the seabed, at a depth of up to 200 meters.

Hairy monkfish

These fish, scary and strange in their behavior, were discovered in 1930. The hairy sea devil prefers great depths of over 1 kilometer. In such water there is pitch darkness, which is what the devil, who has a luminous appendage on his forehead, takes advantage of. With the help of such a device, the hairy devil attracts crustaceans and other fish, which become victims of this predator.

The method of reproduction of this fish is extremely interesting. Female monkfish measure about a meter and weigh 15-20 kilograms. The male is usually ten times smaller than the females; he simply attaches himself to the body of his chosen one, after which sperm constantly enter the female’s body through the blood. For the rest of his life, the male receives all the nutrients he needs from the huge predator. On one large female you can find several males attached to her at once, which can live like this until their death.

Our immense globe inhabited by various living creatures. Living creatures live wherever possible, including occupying all water places (oceans, seas, lakes and rivers). It is also curious that the existence of some species certain part the population does not know.

A very long time to study aquatic fauna was basically impossible due to the lack of necessary technical gear and equipment.

Many people know the well-known Jacques Cousteau, a researcher who once invented scuba gear. With the help of this suit, it became possible to closely and much more thoroughly examine the bottom of any deep body of water. In the future, when developing other devices to help dive into the ocean, Cousteau’s invention was taken as a basis.

Below we will talk about the most striking and extraordinary inhabitants of the deep sea. So:

An incredible lion fish, it is rightfully considered to be quite attractive in appearance and an interesting inhabitant of the seabed. However, touching it is highly discouraged, since its needle-sharp fins contain poison that is fatal to humans.

Foliar sea dragon, in its image is somewhat similar to a seahorse. The length of this wonderful beauty is up to 35 cm. It has a rich green color, which makes it virtually invisible among plants of the same color.

Pelican fish (length up to 1 m). A rather extraordinary fish - it’s all about the front part, which is the mouth, exactly half the size of the whole body. It will easily eat prey twice its size - this is explained by the elasticity of its stomach, which has the ability to stretch to large scale parameters.

The bagfish is a rather dangerous inhabitant of the seabed. The length of its body is about 35 cm, it also has a fairly flexible stomach, thanks to which it is able to swallow prey no less than 4 times longer own growth and 10 times heavier than its own body weight.

The barrel eye is a fish that attracts attention because of its transparent head and amazing eyes that look exclusively upward. Thanks to the green color of the eye shell, the brightness of light perceived by the fish is significantly reduced, this allows you to quickly distinguish prey and also quickly catch it. These creatures move extremely slowly and prefer to live at depths of up to 800 m.

Moonfish - has a huge size and round shape. It is noteworthy that she does not know how to swim at all, for this reason her frequent habitat is the shore of a reservoir. The weight of this miracle of nature sometimes reaches unimaginable sizes - 1.5 tons! In its appearance, it most closely resembles a disk - the tail is short and pointed, and skin covered with tubercles.

Dragon fish - has a black color and is one of the most dangerous inhabitants sea surface. It prefers to live at a depth of up to 2,000 m. The body length is about 40 cm. However, these parameters apply only to females, and males are very small, their body length never exceeds 5 cm. A long mustache and teeth are all they need for catching prey.

Tiger goliath fish. Habitat - r. Congo. This variety living creatures also belongs to deadly creatures, since it belongs to the piranha family. Its parameters are as follows: body length - 180 cm, body weight - 50 kg.

It is extremely difficult to catch a Goliath in a net, since its sharp fangs and strong jaw can easily bite through any net. It is also noteworthy that this fish can choose any bottom inhabitant as prey, regardless of its parameters, even predatory crocodiles.

Silver locomotive - habitat is both the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. Perhaps this is the most dangerous inhabitant of the seabed, since the poison that is contained on her body is capable of killing not only a person, but also any living creature that comes into her field of vision. The length of the Silver locomotive is 45 cm. In addition to the outer skin, the poison also contains internal organs, such as - liver for example.

Monkfish. Habitat: Atlantic and Antarctic oceans. It is considered one of the most terrible inhabitants of the reservoir, because of its huge jaw and fairly large length - 1 m. In fact, the prey itself swims into its paws, figuratively speaking, and this is explained simply - the monkfish has a luminous end of the spine.

Interesting fact: Males, after a certain time, completely lose the ability to digest the prey they swallowed, and then they transform into females.

Tripod fish - it owes this name to the presence of 3 “legs”, which are long fins (1 m), facilitating comfortable movement and stability. Habitat - warm waters tropics. Unlike most of their kind, the tripods are quite small, only up to 35 cm in length. Thanks to their inherent bioluminescence, fish have an excellent ability to glow in the dark. In color they come in both dark brown and black.

Bonus: we can’t help but say about our pride - the omul from Baikal
Baikal omul belongs to the salmon family. As centuries-old shows scientific research In the field of genetics, this subspecies of fish is very close to the classic and herring whitefish. On at the moment he stands out quite well independent species- Coregonus migratorius.

Lake Baikal is its most common habitat. Less often it can be observed in Siberian and Ural reservoirs. To date, as many as 4 of its populations have been officially recorded:
- Severobaikalskaya

Posolskaya

Selenginskaya

Chivyrkuiskaya.

Barguzinskaya (but it is distinguished extremely rarely)

Classic omul rarely weighs more than 800 grams, however, there are exceptions. So, sometimes it was possible to see this fish with a length of 47 cm and a body weight of almost 1.5 kg! The life expectancy of omul is quite high - 18 years. In the entire history of studying this type of fish, the largest specimen of the Selenga population was encountered, with a body weight of 5 kg and a body length of 50 cm. And you can purchase fresh frozen omul on the website sibifood.ru. The Power of Siberia is an online store of high-quality fresh game and fish directly from Yakutia and Krasnoyarsk.

In the depths of the sea and ocean there are a huge number of all kinds of creatures that amaze with their sophisticated defense mechanisms, the ability to adapt, and, of course, their appearance. This is a whole universe that has not yet been fully explored. In this rating, we have collected the most unusual representatives of the depths, from beautifully colored fish to creepy monsters.

15

Our rating of the most unusual inhabitants of the depths opens with the dangerous and at the same time amazing lion fish, also known as striped lionfish or zebra fish. This cute creature, about 30 centimeters long, spends most of its time among the corals in a motionless state, and only from time to time swims from one place to another. Thanks to its beautiful and unusual coloring, as well as long fan-shaped pectoral and dorsal fins, this fish attracts the attention of both people and marine life.

However, behind the beauty of the color and shape of its fins are hidden sharp and poisonous needles, with which it protects itself from enemies. The lion fish itself does not attack first, but if a person accidentally touches it or steps on it, then one injection from such a needle will sharply worsen his health. If there are several injections, the person will need outside help to swim to shore, as the pain can become unbearable and lead to loss of consciousness.

14

This is a small marine bony fish of the family pipefish order Acicularis. Seahorses lead a sedentary lifestyle; they attach their flexible tails to stems, and thanks to numerous spines, outgrowths on the body and iridescent colors, they completely blend into the background. This is how they protect themselves from predators and camouflage themselves while hunting for food. Skates feed on small crustaceans and shrimp. The tubular stigma acts like a pipette - the prey is drawn into the mouth along with water.

The body of seahorses in water is located unconventionally for fish - vertically or diagonally. The reason for this is the relatively large swim bladder, most of which is located in the upper part of the body seahorse. The difference between seahorses and other species is that their offspring are carried by the male. On its abdomen it has a special brood chamber in the form of a sac, which plays the role of a uterus. Seahorses are very fertile animals, and the number of embryos borne in a male’s pouch ranges from 2 to several thousand. Childbirth for a male is often painful and can result in death.

13

This representative of the depths is a relative of the previous participant in the rating - the seahorse. The leafy sea dragon, ragfish or sea pegasus is an unusual fish, so named for its fantastic appearance - translucent delicate greenish fins cover its body and constantly sway with the movement of the water. Although these processes look like fins, they do not take part in swimming, but serve only for camouflage. The length of this creature reaches 35 centimeters, and it lives in only one place - off the southern coast of Australia. The rag picker swims slowly, its maximum speed is up to 150 m/h. Just like seahorses, the offspring are carried by males in a special pouch formed during spawning along the lower surface of the tail. The female lays eggs in this pouch and all care of the offspring falls on the father.

12

The frilled shark is a species of shark that looks much more like a strange sea snake or eel. From the very Jurassic, the frilled predator has not changed at all over millions of years of existence. It got its name from the presence of a formation on its body brown, resembling a cape. It is also called the corrugated shark due to the numerous folds of skin on its body. Such peculiar folds on its skin, according to scientists, are a reserve of body volume to accommodate large prey in the stomach.

After all, the frilled shark swallows its prey mainly whole, since the needle-like tips of its teeth curved inside the mouth are not capable of crushing and grinding food. The frilled shark lives in the bottom layer of water in all oceans, except the Arctic Ocean, at a depth of 400-1200 meters; it is a typical deep-sea predator. The frilled shark can reach 2 meters in length, but the usual sizes are smaller - 1.5 meters for females and 1.3 meters for males. This species lays eggs: the female gives birth to 3-12 young. Gestation of embryos can last up to two years.

11

This species of crustacean from the infraorder of crabs is one of the largest representatives of arthropods: large individuals reach 20 kilograms, 45 centimeters in carapace length and 4 m in the span of the first pair of legs. Lives mainly in Pacific Ocean off the coast of Japan at a depth of 50 to 300 meters. It feeds on shellfish and leftovers and is believed to live up to 100 years. The survival rate among the larvae is very small, so females spawn more than 1.5 million of them. During the process of evolution, the front two legs turned into large claws that can reach a length of 40 centimeters. Despite this formidable weapon, the Japanese spider crab is non-aggressive and has a calm nature. It is even used in aquariums as an ornamental animal.

10

These large deep-sea crayfish can grow more than 50 cm in length. The largest recorded specimen weighed 1.7 kilograms and was 76 centimeters long. Their body is covered with hard plates that are softly connected to each other. This armor design provides good mobility, so giant isopods can curl up into a ball when they sense danger. Rigid plates reliably protect the crayfish’s body from deep-sea predators. Quite often they are found in Blackpool, England, and they are not uncommon in other places on the planet. These animals live at depths from 170 to 2,500 m. Most of the entire population prefers to be kept at a depth of 360-750 meters.

They prefer to live on the clay bottom alone. Isopods are carnivorous and can hunt for slow-moving prey at the bottom - sea cucumbers, sponges, and possibly small fish. They also do not disdain carrion, which sinks to the seabed from the surface. Since there is not always enough food at such great depths, and finding it in pitch darkness is not an easy task, isopods have adapted to do without food for a long time. It is known for sure that cancer is capable of fasting for 8 weeks in a row.

9

The purple tremoctopus or blanket octopus is a very unusual octopus. Although, octopuses in general strange creatures- they have three hearts, poisonous saliva, the ability to change the color and texture of their skin, and their tentacles are able to perform certain actions without instructions from the brain. However, the purple tremoctopus is the strangest of them all. For starters, we can say that the female is 40,000 times heavier than the male! The male is only 2.4 centimeters long and lives almost like plankton, while the female reaches 2 m in length. When the female is frightened, she can expand the cape-like membrane located between the tentacles, which visually increases her size and makes her look even more dangerous. It is also interesting that the blanket octopus is immune to jellyfish venom Portuguese man of war; Moreover, the intelligent octopus sometimes tears off the jellyfish's tentacles and uses them as weapons.

8

The blobfish is a deep-sea bottom-dwelling marine fish of the psycholute family, which, due to its unattractive appearance, is often called one of the most terrible fish on the planet. These fish supposedly live at depths of 600-1200 m off the coast of Australia and Tasmania, where they are found lately Fishermen began to increasingly reach the surface, which is why this species of fish is endangered. The blobfish consists of a gelatinous mass with a density slightly less than the density of water itself. This allows the blobfish to swim at such depths without expending large quantities.

Lack of muscles is not a problem for this fish. She swallows almost everything edible that floats in front of her, lazily opening her mouth. It feeds mainly on mollusks and crustaceans. Even though the blobfish is not edible, it is endangered. Fishermen, in turn, sell this fish as a souvenir. Blobfish populations are recovering slowly. It takes 4.5 to 14 years for the blobfish population to double.

7 Sea urchin

Sea urchins are very ancient animals of the echinoderm class that inhabited the Earth already 500 million years ago. At the moment, about 940 are known modern species sea urchins. The body size of a sea urchin varies from 2 to 30 centimeters and is covered with rows of calcareous plates that form a dense shell. According to body shape sea urchins divided into correct and incorrect. U the right hedgehogs body shape is almost round. U wrong hedgehogs The body shape is flattened, and the anterior and posterior ends of the body are distinguishable. Spines of various lengths are movably connected to the shell of sea urchins. The length ranges from 2 millimeters to 30 centimeters. Spines often serve sea urchins for movement, nutrition and protection.

In some species, which are distributed mainly in tropical and subtropical regions of the Indian, Pacific and Atlantic Oceans needles are poisonous. Sea urchins are bottom crawling or burrowing animals that typically live at depths of about 7 meters and are widespread on coral reefs. Sometimes some individuals can crawl onto. Correct sea urchins prefer rocky surfaces; incorrect - soft and sandy soil. Hedgehogs reach sexual maturity in the third year of life, and live about 10-15 years, up to a maximum of 35.

6

Largemouth lives in the Pacific, Atlantic and Indian oceans at depths from 500 to 3000 meters. The body of the largemouth is long and narrow, in appearance it resembles an eel 60 cm, sometimes up to 1 meter. Due to the giant stretching mouth, reminiscent of the beak bag of a pelican, it has a second name - pelican fish. The length of the mouth is almost 1/3 of the total length of the body, the rest is a thin body, turning into a tail filament, at the end of which there is a luminous organ. The largemouth does not have scales, a swim bladder, ribs, an anal fin or a full-fledged bone skeleton.

Their skeleton consists of several deformed bones and light cartilage. Therefore, these fish are quite light. They have a tiny skull and small eyes. Due to poorly developed fins, these fish cannot swim quickly. Due to the size of its mouth, this fish is capable of swallowing prey that is larger than itself. The swallowed victim ends up in the stomach, which can stretch to enormous sizes. The pelican fish feeds on other deep-sea fish and crustaceans that can be found at such depths.

5

The sac-eater or black eater is a deep-sea representative of perciformes from the suborder chiasmodidae, living at depths from 700 to 3000 meters. This fish grows up to 30 centimeters in length and is found throughout tropical and subtropical waters. This fish got its name from its ability to swallow prey several times its size. This is possible due to the very elastic stomach and the absence of ribs. A bagworm can easily swallow fish 4 times longer and 10 times heavier than its body.

This fish has very large jaws, and on each of them the front three teeth form sharp fangs, with which it holds the victim when it pushes it into its stomach. As the prey decomposes, a lot of gas is released inside the bagworm's stomach, which brings the fish to the surface, where some black gobblers have been found with swollen bellies. It is not possible to observe the animal in its natural habitat, so very little is known about its life.

4

This lizard-headed creature belongs to the deep-sea lizard-heads that live in the tropical and subtropical seas of the world, at depths from 600 to 3500 meters. Its length reaches 50-65 centimeters. Outwardly, it is very reminiscent of long-extinct dinosaurs in a reduced form. It is considered the deepest sea predator, devouring everything that comes in its way. Bathysaurus even has teeth on its tongue. At such a depth, it is quite difficult for this predator to find a mate, but this is not a problem for it, since the bathysaurus is a hermaphrodite, that is, it has both male and female sexual characteristics.

3

The smallmouth macropinna, or barrel eye, is a species of deep-sea fish, the only representative of the genus macropinna, which belongs to the order Smeltfish. These amazing fish a transparent head through which they can watch prey with their tubular eyes. It was discovered in 1939, and lives at a depth of 500 to 800 meters, and therefore has not been well studied. Pisces in normal environment habitats are usually motionless, or move slowly in a horizontal position.

Previously, the principle of operation of the eyes was not clear, since the fish’s olfactory organs are located above the mouth, and the eyes are located inside the transparent head and can only look up. The green color of the eyes of this fish is 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, which allows the fish to discern the bioluminescence of potential prey.

In 2009, scientists found that thanks to special structure eye muscles, these fish are able to move their cylindrical eyes from the vertical position in which they are usually located, to the horizontal position when they are directed forward. In this case, the mouth is in the field of view, which provides an opportunity to capture prey. Zooplankton was found in the macropinna's stomach different sizes, including small cnidarians and crustaceans, as well as siphonophore tentacles along with cnidocytes. Taking this into account, we can come to the conclusion that the continuous transparent membrane above the eyes of this species evolved evolutionarily as a way of protecting cnidarians from cnidocytes.

1

The first place in our ranking of the most unusual inhabitants of the depths was taken by a deep-sea monster called an anglerfish or devil fish. These are scary and unusual fish They live at great depths, from 1500 to 3000 meters. They are characterized by a spherical, laterally flattened body shape and the presence of a “fishing rod” in females. The skin is black or dark brown, naked; in several species it is covered with transformed scales - spines and plaques; ventral fins are absent. There are 11 known families, including almost 120 species.

The anglerfish is a predatory sea fish. Hunt other residents underwater world it is helped by a special growth on its back - one feather from the dorsal fin separated from the others during evolution, and a transparent sac formed at its end. In this sac, which is actually a gland with liquid, surprisingly, there are bacteria. They may or may not glow, obeying their master in this matter. The anglerfish regulates the luminosity of bacteria by dilating or constricting blood vessels. Some members of the anglerfish family adapt even more sophisticatedly, acquiring a folding fishing rod or growing one right in their mouth, while others have glowing teeth.

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 the dorsal fin of the viper fish there is 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 long-horned sabertooth is another fearsome deep-sea predatory fish, living 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 most strange inhabitant the depths of the 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 battle took place off the coast South Africa, then the giant squid fought with the baby sperm whale, and after an hour and a half fight, he still killed the whale.

The giant isopod, known to science as 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 a depth of 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.

The coelacanth or coelacanth is a large deep-sea fish whose discovery in 1938 became one of the most important zoological finds 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 relic 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 with a weight of 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. Yours unusual name the hellish vampire received thanks to the red body and eyes, which, however, depending on the lighting, can be blue color. Despite their terrifying appearance, these strange creatures grow to only 30 centimeters and, unlike other cephalopods, 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.

Among the variety of fish living in the oceans, seas, rivers and lakes, as well as in aquariums, there are very expensive and rare species, which cost a lot of money.

Fugu fish (price 100-500$)

Fugu, also called ball fish, is considered by culinary experts to be one of the most dangerous fish to eat. Only trained culinary masters are allowed to cut it using a special technology, only then does it become available to fans of extreme restaurant food and exotic dishes. Due to the complexity of preparation, a small portion of this fish can cost up to $500. It’s no wonder that the Japanese consider this delicacy the most expensive in their country.

Goldfish(price 1.5 $ thousand)

No one would refuse to own a goldfish, even if it costs a lot of money. In the reservoirs of the South Korean island of Cheyu there are fish with scales that have a stunning golden tint. But the price of this treasure reaches 1.5 thousand dollars. Quite cool!

Albino Beluga (price: $2.5 thousand)

The beautiful caviar of the albino beluga fish is appreciated everywhere. Speaking of the most expensive fish ah in the world, it is worth noting what makes them highly rated. One can say about the albino beluga due to the fact that it spawns only once a century. Its weight can reach one ton. And for 100 grams of her caviar you will have to pay 2.5 thousand dollars. A luxurious delicacy!

Arowana (price 80$ thousand)

Beautiful aquarium fish Arowana, also called dragon fish, is highly prized by fish collectors and admirers of unique sea inhabitants. According to legend, the owner of such a fish is guaranteed happiness. These fish, classified as the oldest species, can be seen in aquariums decorating the offices of the world's largest corporations.

Tuna weighing 108 kilograms (price $178 thousand)

The tuna, unique in size, is called a record holder - because of its price paid by the buyer. Large tuna are not a rare catch for fishermen. Soon a new record was set at an auction in Tokyo.

Tuna weighing 200 kilograms (price $230 thousand)

Another record holder was also sold in Tokyo. The tuna, which weighs almost twice as much, was valued at $230,000. This became a record for the year 2000 of this auction.

Russian sturgeon (price: $289 thousand)

The most expensive of the Russian sturgeons is recognized to be a specimen caught back in 1924 by local fishermen in the Tikhaya Sosna River. The sturgeon “pulled” 1.227 tons, while it produced 245 kilograms of caviar. It is for this excellent quality caviar that sturgeon is considered one of the world's most valuable fish. At today's auction, that sturgeon would fetch no less than $289,000.

Platinum Arowana (price: $400 thousand)

The unique mutant fish, called the platinum arowana, stands out from the dragon fish family with its unique coloring. The owner of this phenomenon, living in Singapore, categorically does not agree to part with his pet, despite the big money offered.

Tuna weighing 269 kilograms (price $730 thousand)

The record holder for tuna is a specimen that was caught and sold in 2012. Because of its weight and its price—it sold for $730,000—it is considered the largest and most expensive tuna in history. And it was also sold at the Tokyo market.

Bluefin tuna weighing 222 kilograms (price: $1.76 million)

The champion's podium among the most expensive fish is occupied by bluefin tuna, which weighed 222 kilograms, for which the buyer paid over $1.5 million. He also broke his own earlier record for purchasing heavyweight tuna. A small piece of this record-breaking tuna costs 20 euros.