In the depths of the seas and oceans, a completely different world reigns: special flora and fauna, represented by many varieties, have not yet revealed half of their secrets to humanity. Every year, thanks to developing technologies, scientists are able to explore new areas and discover unique species deep sea animals.
The creatures that live in little-explored waters often amaze with their appearance - not always cute, but certainly entertaining and mysterious. We invite you to immerse yourself in a strange and wonderful underwater kingdom with its extravagant inhabitants.
1. Moonfish (Mola-mola)
The sunfish (sunfish, headfish) is the largest in the world bone fish. Laterally flattened and somewhat elongated body shape combined with impressive size makes a strong impression, in addition, many individuals of this species reach three meters, if you calculate the distance between the fins. This huge fish is found in all oceans located in tropical and temperate climate. The giant feeds on zooplankton, and also, most likely, small fish and algae.
2. Giant isopod
The giant isopod, without a doubt, can be called one of the strangest creatures encountered by man in the underwater world. Known to science as Bathynomus giganteus, it belongs to the group of crustaceans, being the largest member of the Bathynomus family, related to shrimp and crabs.
3. Pelagic megamouth shark
It is difficult to describe the largemouth shark better than its name does - a shark with a huge mouth. Its streamlined head is somewhat lost behind the scale of its protruding jaws. The shark's body is decorated with white spots covering the tips of the fins, as well as a dark triangle at the throat. The average length of this outlandish sea creature is 4.5 m, although scientists have discovered individuals larger than five meters. Weighs largemouth shark about 750 kg.
4. Long-horned sabertooth
Famous scientific world Like Anoplogaster Cornuta, this fearsome creature lives in the deep waters of many of the world's oceans. Sabertooth got its eloquent name because of the very impressive appearance of its fanged mouth. The teeth of this fish are considered to be the longest in proportion to body size among all sea inhabitants. For its grotesque appearance, the saber tooth earned the nickname “ogre fish.”
5. Hauliod (viperfish)
One of the most violent underwater predators is the hauliod. His teeth are so large that they do not fit into his mouth, curving down to his eyes. It is believed that so formidable weapon helps the fish inflict critical wounds on its victims while chasing them at high speeds. This creepy-looking creature has a long dorsal fin topped with a photophore, a light-producing organ.
6. Grenadier fish
This species lives just above the seabed. Slowly swimming along its surface, the fish looks for live prey for food, although it turns out that it is not at all averse to tasting underwater carrion. In addition to a rather impressive appearance, the grenadier has the ability to highlight a specific chemical compound with an extremely pungent odor. So to this little underwater monster It's really hard to get close.
7. Deep Sea Glass Squid
Extremely interesting species can be found in the middle ocean depths, where rays of light reaching through the water in combination with the translucent bodies of underwater inhabitants create a spectacular camouflage for the latter. For even better camouflage, some creatures, such as the glass squid, have acquired bioluminescent organs located under their eyes.
8. Monkfish (football fish)
In addition to its interesting appearance, the monkfish has other interesting features. For example, the males of this fish attach themselves to the body of a much larger female and spend most of their lives in this position. While the lady takes care of her harem, gets food and builds a nest, the task of her many husbands is only to fertilize.
9. Pacific Black Dragon
Female Pacific black dragons grow up to 61 cm in length and have rather menacing-looking fangs, as well as a small beard. In comparison with their impressive female friends, males cannot boast of their size (about 8 cm), teeth, mustaches or beards. They don’t even have a stomach, so they are not destined to eat in their short lives. The only mission of the brownish male Pacific black dragon is to have time to mate with the female, who then also uses the body of her former friend as bait for prey.
10. Largemouth (pelican fish)
The long body of the pelican fish turns into an equally long tail with a light-producing organ at the end. On average this ancient inhabitant seas can grow up to 80 cm. Its habitat is the waters of tropical and temperate climates.
Incredible facts
Perhaps we should stop looking for aliens on other planets, since there are enough people living in the ocean amazing and strange shapes life, more like aliens.
4. Goblin Shark
The goblin shark is rarely seen on the surface as it primarily lives at depths from 270 to 1300 meters.
It is easily recognized by its elongated and flattened muzzle with retractable jaws with teeth sharp as fingernails. These sharks reach 3-4 meters in length, but can grow more than 6 meters.
5. Sea Spider
If you thought there were no spiders in the ocean, you were very mistaken. However, sea spiders have no relation to terrestrial spiders, despite their external similarity. These are not spiders or even arachnids, but chelicerates - a subtype arthropods.
They live in the seas, especially in the Mediterranean and Caribbean, as well as in the Arctic and Southern oceans. There is more 1300 species of sea spiders, ranging in size from 1-10 mm to 90 cm.
6. Pompeii worm
Pompeii worms ( Alvinella pompejana) live in very hot water near hydrothermal vents Pacific Ocean and can withstand extreme temperature and pressure.
7. Drop fish
Drop fish ( Psychrolutes marcidus) although it is considered the ugliest creature in the world, looks like a completely normal fish, being in its normal environment at a depth of 600-1200 meters.
At this depth, the pressure is 120 times higher than at the surface. Unlike other fish, it does not have a swim bladder, skeleton or muscles, which allows it to swim at depth. If you raise it to the surface, it acquires saggy and sad looking.
Sea creatures
8. Bobbitt polychaete worm
The Australian purple polychaete worm, also known as the Bobbitt worm, can grow up to 3 meters long.
It hunts its prey in the most diabolical way, burrowing into the seabed, leaving a small part of its body on the surface and waiting for the victim. Using its antennae, the worm senses passing prey, quickly captures it with its strong muscular throat, and splits a fish in two.
9. Jellyfish "flower cap"
These jellyfish, with beautiful multi-colored tentacles emanating from a translucent umbrella, feed on small fish and sometimes each other.
They can increase or decrease in size depending on food supplies.
10. Rag-picking seahorse
These slow-moving fish are related to seahorses. They rely mainly on their seaweed-like appendages to help rag pickers camouflage and protect themselves from predators.
11. Siphonophores
Siphonophores are animal colonies, consisting of individual representatives called zooids, connected by a common trunk. Such a colony can reach several meters in length.
12. Corona jellyfish
This atoll jellyfish or crown jellyfish is very similar to a UFO, because, like most jellyfish, it does not have a digestive, respiratory, circulatory or central nervous system.
She lives in the deep 1000 - 4000 meters, where it does not penetrate sunlight. Being scared, this jellyfish "connects" bioluminescent blue lights, which spin like flashing lights on a police car.
13. Pike blenny
These fish usually hide inside shells on the seabed. These are small (up to 30 cm), but fierce fish with a large mouth and aggressive behavior.
When two pikes blennies fighting for territory, they press their widened mouths against each other as if in a kiss. This helps them determine who is bigger.
14. Glass squid
There is about 60 types of glass squid or crachniid. Most of them, as the name suggests, are transparent, which helps them camouflage.
15. Pteropods
Pteropods are small sea snails which swim in the water on two wing-shaped legs. They are born male but become female when they reach large sizes.
16. Sea cucumber
These floating deep sea cucumbers are transparent, so you can see their digestive system.
Deep sea inhabitants
17. Squid Worm
Scientists first discovered this deep-sea creature in 2007. It was nicknamed the squid worm because of its 10 tentacle-like appendages on the head, each of which is longer than the entire body. He uses them to collect food.
18. Lobster's menacing claws
This type of lobster Dinochelus ausubeli, which means "formidable claws", was discovered at depth 300 meters in the Philippines in 2007. It reaches a length of only 3 cm, and its toothy claws are its only frightening feature.
19. Sea anemone Venus flytrap
This sea anemone Actinoscyphia aurelia, was named after Venus flytrap plants due to their similar shape and feeding method. She folds her disk in half, trapping food and digesting it with her mouth located in the center of the disk.
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
Opens our ranking of the most unusual inhabitants deep, 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, then the person will need outside help to swim to the shore, as the pain can become unbearable and lead to loss of consciousness.
14
This is a small marine bony fish of the pipefish family of the order Pipefish. Seahorses lead sedentary lifestyle life, they are attached with flexible tails to the stems, and thanks to numerous thorns, 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. Foliar sea Dragon, rag picker or sea pegasus is an unusual fish, so named for its fantastic appearance - translucent delicate greenish fins cover its body and constantly sway from the movement of 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 - at southern shores 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. Since the Jurassic period, the frilled predator has not changed at all over millions of years of existence. It got its name from the presence of a brown formation on its body, which resembles 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 type 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. It lives mainly in the 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 such a formidable weapon, Japanese spider crab non-aggressive and has a calm character. 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. Because the food is so great depth not always enough, 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
Drop fish - deep-sea bottom fish sea 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 fishermen have recently begun to increasingly bring them to 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 wasting a large number of.
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. Based on body shape, sea urchins are divided into regular and irregular. 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.
Some species that are distributed mainly in tropical and subtropical regions of the Indian, Pacific and Atlantic oceans have poisonous needles. Sea urchins are bottom crawling or burrowing animals that usually live at a depth 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 a depth of 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. Watch the animal in its natural conditions habitat is not possible, 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. Fish in their normal habitat 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. Green color The eyes of this fish are 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.
In 2009, scientists found that thanks to the special structure of the 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.
The drop fish that
It is a deep-sea bottom fish living at depths of 600 meters.
Blobfish
is a deep-sea fish that lives in deep waters near Australia and Tasmania. Extremely rare in humans and considered critically endangered.
The appearance of this strange and extremely interesting fish quite quirky. On the front of the fish's snout there is a process that resembles a large nose. The eyes are small and set near the “nose” in such a way that they create an external resemblance to a “human” face. The mouth is quite large, its corners are directed downwards, which is why the face of the drop fish always seems to have a sad and despondent expression. It is thanks to its expressive “face” that the blob fish firmly holds first place in the ranking of the strangest sea creatures.
An adult fish grows up to 30 cm. It lives at depths of 800 - 1,500 m. The body of the fish is a watery substance with a density less than that of water. This allows the blob fish to “fly” above the bottom without wasting energy on swimming. Its lack of muscles does not prevent it from hunting small crustaceans and invertebrates. In search of food, the fish hovers above the ocean floor with an open mouth, into which food is stuffed, or lies motionless on the ground, hoping that rare invertebrates will swim into its mouth.
The blobfish has been poorly studied. Although it has been known for quite some time in Australia as “ Australian scalpin"(Australian bull) there is very little detailed information about her life. Interest in the fish has increased recently due to the fact that it has become increasingly caught in trawl nets designed to catch deep-sea crabs and lobsters. Although trawl fisheries in the Pacific and Indian Ocean limited, but this ban is aimed only at preserving existing coral reefs, and is allowed in deep ocean areas. Therefore, biologists argue that trawling can significantly reduce the population of blobfish. There are calculations that say that doubling the current number of fish requires from 5 to 14 years.
This slow growth in numbers is associated with another interesting feature drop fish. She lays eggs directly on the bottom, but does not leave her clutch, but lies on the eggs and “hatches” them until the young emerge from them. Such reproduction is not typical for deep-sea fish, which lay eggs that rise to the surface and mix with plankton. Other deep-sea creatures, as a rule, descend to greater depths only at sexual maturity and remain there until the end of their lives. The drop fish does not leave its kilometer depth at all. The newly born fish remain under protection for some time. adult until she gains enough independence to live alone.
Amazing creatures live in the great depths of the ocean. Of all deep sea creatures sea devils, or anglerfish, live the most amazing lives.
These creepy-looking fish, covered with spines and plaques, live at a depth of 1.5-3 km. The most notable feature of the monkfish is the fishing rod that grows from the dorsal fin and hangs over the predatory mouth. At the end of the fishing rod there is a glowing gland filled with luminescent bacteria. Sea devils use it as bait.
The prey swims towards the light, and the angler carefully moves the fishing rod towards its mouth, and at some point very quickly swallows the prey. In some species, the fishing rod with a flashlight is located directly in the mouth, and the fish, without bothering too much, simply swims with its mouth open.
Externally, bats are very similar to stingrays. They are also characterized by a large round (or triangular) head and a small tail, with an almost complete absence of a body. Most major representatives pipistrelle bats reach half a meter in length, but in general they are somewhat smaller. In the process of evolution, the fins have completely lost the ability to support the fish afloat, so it has to crawl along the seabed. Although they crawl with great reluctance, as a rule they spend their leisure time simply lying passively on the bottom, waiting for their prey or luring it with a special bulb growing directly from their heads. Scientists have determined that this bulb is not a photophore and does not attract prey with its light. On the contrary, this process has a different function - it spreads a specific smell around its owner, which attracts small fish, crustaceans and worms.
Sea pipistrelles live everywhere in warm waters the world's oceans without swimming in the cold waters of the Arctic. As a rule, they all stay at depths of 200 - 1000 meters, but there are species of pipistrelle bats that prefer to stay closer to the surface, not far from the shores. People are quite familiar with pipistrelle bats, which prefer surface waters. The fish is of no gastronomic interest, but its shell has become very attractive to people, especially children. Sun-dried fish leaves behind a strong shell, reminiscent of a turtle. If you add pebbles inside it, you get a decent rattle, which has been known to residents of the eastern hemisphere living on the ocean coast since ancient times.
As you would expect, the bats’ shell serves as protective clothing from larger ones. deep sea inhabitants. Only the strong teeth of a strong predator can break the shell to get to the meat of the fish. In addition, it is not so easy to spot a bat in the dark. In addition to the fact that the fish is flat and blends into the surrounding landscape, the color of its shell follows the color of the seabed.
Lancet fish
or simply lancetfish– large oceanic predatory fish, which is the only living representative of the genus Alepisaurus (Alepisaurus), which translated means “h Yeshua lizard" It got its name from the word “lancet” - medical term, synonymous with scalpel.
With the exception of polar seas lancefish can be found everywhere. However, despite its wide distribution, information about this fish is extremely scarce. Scientists are able to get an idea of the fish only from a few specimens caught along with tuna. The appearance of the fish is very memorable. It has a high dorsal fin that extends almost the entire length of the fish. It is twice as tall as the fish, and looks like the fin of a sailfish.
The body is elongated, thin, decreasing closer to the tail and ending with a caudal peduncle. The mouth is big. The mouth slit ends behind the eyes. Inside the mouth, in addition to numerous small teeth, there are two or three large sharp fangs. These fangs give the fish the terrifying appearance of a prehistoric animal. One species of lancefish has even been named as " alepisaurus ferocious”, which indicates a person’s wariness towards fish. Indeed, looking at the mouth of a fish, it is difficult to imagine that the victim could be saved if it fell into the teeth of this monster.
The lancet fish grows up to 2 m in length, which is quite comparable to the size of the barracuda, which is considered potentially dangerous to humans.
Necropsies of the caught fish provided some insight into the lancefish's diet. Crustaceans were found in the stomach, making up the bulk of plankton, which is in no way associated with a formidable predator. Probably, the fish chooses plankton because it is not able to swim quickly, and it simply cannot keep up with fast prey. Therefore, squid and salps dominate its diet. However, the remains of Opa, tuna and other lancets were also found in some individuals of lancet fish. Apparently it ambushes faster fish, using its narrow profile and silver body coloring to camouflage itself. Sometimes a fish gets hooked while sea fishing.
Lancefish is not of any commercial interest. Although the meat is edible, the fish is not used as food due to its watery, jelly-like body.
Bagswallow this fish is named for its ability to swallow prey that is several times larger than itself. The fact is that it has a very elastic stomach, and there are no ribs in the stomach that would prevent the fish from expanding. Therefore, he can easily swallow a fish four times his length and 10 times heavier!
So, for example, not far from the Cayman Islands, the corpse of a bagworm was discovered, in the stomach of which were the remains of a mackerel 86 cm long. The length of the bagworm itself was only 19 cm. That is. he managed to swallow a fish 4 times longer than himself. Moreover, it was mackerel, known as mackerel fish, which is very aggressive. It is not entirely clear how such a small fish coped with a stronger opponent.
Outside Russia, the bagworm is called " black eater" The body of the fish is uniformly dark brown, almost black, in color. The head is medium size. The jaws are very large. The lower jaw does not have a bony connection with the head, so the open mouth of the bagworm is capable of accommodating prey much larger than the head of the predator. On each jaw, the front three teeth form sharp fangs. With them, the black eater holds the victim when he pushes it into the stomach.
Swallowed prey may be so large that it is not immediately digested. The resulting decomposition inside the stomach releases large amounts of gas, which drags the sac swallow to the surface. In fact, the most famous examples of the black eater were found precisely on the surface of the water with swollen bellies that prevented the fish from escaping to the depths.
The bagworm lives at a depth of 700 - 3000 m. It is not possible to observe the animal in its natural habitat, so very little is known about its life. These are known to be oviparous fish. The most common time to spot egg clutches is during the winter in South Africa. Juveniles are often found off Bermuda from April to August and have more light shades, which disappear as the fish grows older. Also, larvae and young sacs have small spines, which are absent in adult fish.
Opisthoproct lives at great depths up to 2,500 m in all oceans, with the exception of the Arctic. Their appearance is unique and does not allow them to be confused with other deep-sea fish. Most often, scientists pay attention to the unusual large head of the fish. There are large eyes on it, which are constantly turned upward, from where sunlight comes. It is worth noting that quite recently, at the end of 2008, an opisthoproctus was caught near New Zealand, which had as many as 4 eyes. However, it is known for sure that vertebrates with 4 eyes do not exist in nature. Further study of the find made it possible to determine that in fact there are only two eyes, but each of them consists of two parts, one of which is constantly directed upward, and the second looks downward. The lower eye of a fish is capable of changing the viewing angle and allows the animal to inspect environment from all sides.
The body of the opisthoproctus is quite massive; its shape resembles a brick covered with large scales. Near the anal fin of the fish there is a bioluminescent organ that acts as a beacon. The belly of the fish, covered with light scales, reflects the light emitted by the photophore. This reflected light is clearly visible to other opisthoprocts, whose eyes are directed upward, but at the same time it is invisible to other deep-sea inhabitants, which have “classic” eyes located on the sides of their heads.
It is assumed that opisthoprocts are solitary and do not gather in large flocks. They spend all their time at depth, at the border of light penetration. To feed, they do not make vertical migrations, but look for prey above against the backdrop of cutting sunlight. The diet consists of small crustaceans and larvae that are part of zooplankton.
Very little is known about fish reproduction. It is assumed that they spawn directly in the water column - throwing eggs and sperm directly into the water en masse. Fertilized eggs drift at shallower depths and, as they mature and become heavier, they sink to a depth of a kilometer.
As a rule, all opisthoprocts are small in size, about 20 cm, but there are species that reach half a meter in length.
- deep-sea fish that lives in tropical and temperate zones at depths from 200 to 5,000 m. It grows up to 15 cm in length, reaching 120 g of body weight.
The sabertooth's head is large, with massive jaws. The eyes are small compared to the size of the head. The body is dark brown or almost black, strongly compressed at the sides, and in compensation for the small eyes there is a well-developed lateral line running high on the back of the fish. In the mouth of the fish, two long fangs grow on the lower jaw. In relation to body length, these teeth are the longest among fish known to science. These teeth are so large that when the mouth is closed, they are placed in special grooves in the upper jaw. To achieve this, even the fish's brain is divided into two parts to make room for fangs in the skull.
Sharp teeth, curved inside the mouth, nip in the bud the possible escape of the victim. Adult sabertooths are predators. They hunt small fish and squid. Young individuals also filter zooplankton from the water. In a short period of time, a saber tooth can swallow as much food as it weighs. Despite the fact that not much is known about these fish, we can still conclude that sabertooths are quite ferocious predators. They live in small flocks or alone, making vertical migrations at night to hunt. Having had enough of their time, the fish descend to greater depths during the day, resting before the next hunt.
By the way, perhaps it is the frequent migration to the upper layers of water that explains the good tolerance of sabertooths low pressure. Fish caught near the surface of the water can live in an aquarium in running water for up to one month.
However, despite their formidable weapons in the form of huge fangs, saber teeth often fall prey to larger ones. ocean fish, which descend to the depths to feed. For example, the remains of saber teeth are constantly found in caught tuna. In this they are similar to hatchet fish, which also make up a significant portion of the tuna diet. Moreover, the number of finds suggests that the population of saber-tooths is quite significant.
Juvenile sabertooths are completely different from adult fish, which is why at first they were even classified as a different genus. They are triangular in shape and have 4 spikes on their heads, which is why they are called “horned”. Juveniles also have no fangs, and the color is not dark, but light brown, and only on the belly there is a large triangular spot, which will “stretch” over time over the entire body.
Saber teeth grow quite slowly. Scientists suggest that the fish can reach 10 years of age.
Hatchetfish
- deep-sea fish found in temperate and tropical waters of the world's oceans. They got their name from the characteristic appearance body, resembling the shape of an ax - a narrow tail and a wide “axe-body”.
Most often hatchets can be found at depths of 200-600 m. However, they are known to be found at depths of 2 km. Their body is covered with light silvery scales that bounce off easily. The body is strongly compressed laterally. Some hatchet species have a pronounced expansion of the body in the area of the anal fin. They grow to small sizes - some species reach a body length of only 5 cm.
Like other deep-sea fish, hatchet fish have photophores that emit light. But unlike other fish, hatchets use their ability to bioluminescence not to attract prey, but, on the contrary, for camouflage. Photophores are located only on the belly of the fish, and their glow makes the hatchets invisible from below, as if dissolving the silhouette of the fish against the background of those making their way to the depths sun rays. The hatchets regulate the intensity of the glow depending on the brightness of the upper layers of water, controlling it with their eyes.
Some species of hatchetfish gather in huge flocks, forming a wide, dense “carpet”. Sometimes it becomes difficult for watercraft to penetrate this layer with their echolocators, for example, to accurately determine the depth. Scientists and navigators have been observing such a “double” ocean floor since the mid-20th century. Large concentrations of hatchet fish attract some large ocean fish to such places, including commercially valuable species, such as tuna. Hatchets also form a significant part of the diet of other larger deep-sea inhabitants, such as deep-sea anglerfish.
Hatchetheads feed on small crustaceans. They reproduce by throwing eggs or laying larvae, which mix with plankton and, as they mature, sink to depth.
Orsky chimeras
- deep-sea fish, the oldest inhabitants among modern cartilaginous fish. Distant relatives of modern sharks.
Chimeras are sometimes called "a" ghost-cools" These fish live at very great depths, sometimes exceeding 2.5 km. About 400 million ago, the common ancestors of modern sharks and chimeras split into two “orders.” Some preferred habitats near the surface. The other, on the contrary, chose as his habitat great depths and evolved over time to modern chimeras. Currently, science knows 50 species of these fish. Most of them do not rise to depths higher than 200 m, and only rabbit fish And rat fish were not seen deep underwater. These small fish the only representatives home aquariums, sometimes called simply " catfish ».
Chimeras grow up to 1.5 m, however, in adult individuals, half of the body is the tail, which is a long, thin and narrow part of the body. The dorsal fin is very long and can reach the very tip of the tail. Chimeras are given a memorable appearance by their enormous size in relation to their body. pectoral fins, giving them the appearance of a clumsy strange bird.
The habitat of chimeras makes them very difficult to study. Very little is known about their habits, reproduction, and hunting methods. The accumulated knowledge suggests that chimeras hunt in much the same way as other deep-sea fish. In complete darkness, what is important for successful hunting is not speed, but the ability to find prey literally by touch. Most deep sea creatures use photophores to attract prey directly to their huge jaws. Chimeras, to search for prey, use a characteristic open, very sensitive lateral line, which is one of distinctive features these fish.
The skin color of chimeras is varied and can range from light gray to almost black, sometimes with large contrasting spots. To protect against enemies, color at great depths is not of fundamental importance, so for defense against predators they have poisonous thorns located in front of the dorsal fin. It must be said that at depths of over 600m. this one has quite a few enemies large fish not so many, with the exception of particularly voracious large female Indiancanths. Great danger For young chimeras, they are represented by their own relatives; cannibalism is not a rare phenomenon for chimeras. Although most of the diet consists of mollusks and echinoderms. Cases of eating other deep-sea fish have been recorded. Chimeras have very strong jaws. They have 3 pairs of hard teeth that can bite with great force, crushing the hard shells of mollusks.
based on materials from inokean.ru
Despite the fact that water occupies 70% of the surface of our planet, the oceans remain a mystery to humans. No more than 5% of the world's oceans have been explored, the rest of it is beyond human knowledge. But several interesting information Nevertheless, we managed to obtain information, for example, about what creatures live deep underwater, where sunlight does not penetrate.
1 place. Bathysaurus
This lizard-headed creature is very reminiscent of long-extinct dinosaurs in a reduced form. This similarity is probably why it got its name. Bathisaurus lives in the seas of tropical and subtropical climate at a depth of 600 to 3500 meters and reaches a length of 50-65 cm. It is considered the deepest predator, a mini-machine killer that devours everything that gets in its way. Bathysaurus even has teeth on its tongue. By the way, this monster is a hermaphrodite, i.e., it has both male and female sexual characteristics.
2nd place. Angler
This is probably the most ugly creature in the world, when you see him, you can’t help but be scared. There are about 200 species of deep-sea monkfish, most of them live in Atlantic Ocean. Some of these creatures grow up to a meter, and they lure prey with a glowing tail. Their mouth is so large and their body is so flexible that they can swallow prey twice their size.
3rd place. frilled shark
This prehistoric creature lived and hunted well back in the days when dinosaurs roamed the earth. People very rarely have the opportunity to see this formidable predator, since the frilled shark prefers to stay at a depth of 1500 meters, where it hunts mainly for cephalopods.
4th place. Fish - drop
This fish somewhat resembles a person with an unhappy expression on his face, upset by his ugliness. It lives mainly off the coast of Tasmania at a depth of 800 meters and feeds on mollusks and sea urchins. The blob fish does not have an air bubble, and its body consists of a jelly-like substance, slightly denser than water, which allows it to easily move along the seabed.
5th place. Pisces - Leo
According to some reports, the lion fish appeared in the Caribbean Sea relatively recently, and became a real disaster for the local inhabitants. Unfamiliar with this type of fish, many try to taste it, and as a result they themselves become prey. These fish have poisonous spines, so the only one who can eat a lion fish is another lion fish, since they are not only predators, but also cannibals.
6th place. Fish - viper
This deep-sea fish is known as one of the most ruthless predators of the seabed. She is easily recognized by her large mouth with huge sharp fangs. In fact, the teeth are so long that they don't fit in her mouth and reach her eyes. Like angler, the viper fish lures its prey with its glowing tail and pierces it with its terrible teeth. Her body is so flexible that she is able to swallow victims larger than herself.
7th place. Woodlice eating tongue
8th place. Sac-eater, or black eater
This fish, up to 30 cm long, lives in the seas of a subtropical climate. It got its name because of its elastic stomach, which can accommodate fish four times the size of the bagworm. The lower jaw has no bony connection to the skull, and there are no ribs on the stomach. All this helps the fish swallow food.
9th place. Macropinna microstoma
This small fish is known for its transparent head, inside of which there are green eyes. It lives in the cool waters of the Pacific and Northern Arctic Ocean at a depth of 200 to 600 meters.
10th place. Sea bat
This bottom-dwelling fish, very reminiscent of a stingray, lives mainly in the warm waters of the seas and oceans at a depth of 200 to 1000 meters. It has a large head and a small tail, the body itself is practically absent. The bat does not know how to swim, and crawls along the bottom with reluctance. Basically, he just lies there and waits for the food to swim up to him.
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