In this section of the site you will read how and where sea animals live, you will be able to learn interesting facts about them, and see photos of sea animals!
More than two thirds of the earth's surface is covered by seas and oceans. This huge mass of water is necessary for life on our planet: winds carry moisture throughout the world, it evaporates and is restored again in the form of rain and snow, feeding plant and animal world. The sea is teeming with life, and oddly enough, both microscopic and largest Marine life such as blue whale, manta ray or whale shark, eat big amount food invisible to the naked eye - plankton.
Jellyfish more than 90% consists of water; Some jellyfish can cause a painful burn.
U octopus eight tentacles; it lives on the seabed and can change color to adapt to its environment.
Hawksbill turtle (caretta)- very dexterous swimmer; feeds mainly on jellyfish and crustaceans. Lays eggs in the sand on the shores of small bays.
Blue whale- this is the largest animal in the world: one female, caught in 1947, weighed 190 tons. A blue whale calf is born eight meters long and weighs up to three tons.
Marine flora consists of algae- plants without a trunk. Their life depends on sunlight, and therefore at great depths, where the rays of the sun do not penetrate, there are no algae.
Moon fish usually swims in the open sea almost at the very surface, which is why its fin emerging from the water is often mistaken for the fin of a shark; In contrast, the moon fish is completely harmless.
Angler. This amazing predatory fish lures its prey by shaking its “antenna”, at the end of which there is a growth similar to a delicious worm.
Zebra lionfish. Her spectacular appearance conceals serious danger- on the back of this fish there is a fin that secretes poison as strong as that of a cobra.
Needlefish. It hunts in a completely unique way: it approaches the prey, often hiding behind other fish, and with lightning speed sucks it into its long “beak”. In terms of its characteristics, the pipefish is very similar to the seahorse.
Acne. For centuries, scientists, starting with the Greek philosopher Aristotle, have tried to understand how this fish reproduces. Today it is known that it lays eggs in the Sargasso Sea, between Bermuda and the Caribbean islands. Small larvae travel many thousands of kilometers to return to the rivers where their parents come from. The eel is a very strong fish; found in fresh water and maybe for a long time stay out of water: part of its journey often travels on land.
Seabirds. The sea provides food for many animals that live on the coast. Among them are numerous seabirds. These birds have a lot in common: they all fly well, can descend into the water, swim with the help of webbed feet, and their beaks are adapted to fishing. Many of them, such as the cormorant, are capable of chasing fish underwater.
Cormorant. The inhabitants of Japan taught this bird to fish: with every fish caught, the bird returns to its owner.
Gull. A lot of various types sea birds are called gulls. You can often see flocks of seagulls chasing fishing vessels returning from fishing: they pick up waste that sailors throw overboard. Seagulls have learned to find food even in landfills in the interior of the continent, tens of kilometers from the sea.
Frigate. The male of this large, coastal-dwelling warm seas, during courtship, it inflates a huge bright red crop to attract the attention of the female.
Sea depths.
Far from the coast on great depth the algae that need it don't grow sunlight; there are only phytoplankton, formed by microscopic algae that float freely in the water. For this reason, at great depths there are mainly predators; other fish are content with phyto and zooplankton. Consisting of tiny invertebrates.
In open water spaces, where there are no shelters, only big sizes capable of instilling fear in a predator and preventing an attack. Therefore, only far from the coast are large marine inhabitants found: from cetaceans such as killer whales and whales, to big fish such as shark, tuna or swordfish.
Small fish use other methods of defense: flying fish jump high out of the water, and sardines and mackerel find salvation by gathering in large schools.
The Earth is washed by four oceans: Indian, Atlantic, Arctic and Pacific. The largest is the Pacific Ocean, its area is 180 million square kilometers. The average depth of the oceans is about 4,000 meters. The enormous length and depth do not allow exploring the bottom of the oceans; in fact, it is extremely difficult and expensive to create machines that can withstand highest pressure, existing in the abyss of the sea.
The greatest depth of the ocean is the Mariinsky Trench in the Pacific Ocean: 11,022 meters.
Flying fish. U flying fish The lateral fins are highly developed, with the help of which it makes gliding flights over the surface of the sea, escaping from predators.
A complex combination of winds, currents and tidal cycles causes waves to move. The sea rarely has waves higher than 10 meters, but waves even higher than 30 meters have been observed.
Plankton.
A large number of microscopic organisms float in the sea that are not able to withstand currents - animal (zooplankton) and plant (phytoplankton) in origin; together they make up plankton. Carried by currents, it serves as food for both the smallest fish and crustaceans, and huge mammals, such as the blue whale. Animals that can actively swim form nekton.
Zooplankton- part of plankton formed by animal organisms.
Phytoplankton- this is that part of plankton that consists of microscopic algae floating in water. A large number of phytoplankton and gives sea water a characteristic greenish color.
One liter of water contains millions of microscopic organisms that are invisible to the naked eye. They not only constitute food for marine animals, but are also necessary for the restoration of oxygen.
Cetaceans.
This large mammals, inhabitants of the seas and oceans. Over millions of years of evolution, their body has acquired a shape similar to that of fish, thanks to which they swim quickly. But cetaceans, unlike fish, cannot breathe rarefied oxygen. They need to breathe air, so they are forced to swim to the surface of the sea from time to time. Their young are born in water; immediately after birth, the mother pushes them to the surface to take their first breath. This is a very important moment, and parents must be extremely careful not to encounter a predator.
The smallest cetacean is the dolphin, and the largest is the sea whale, which is also the largest animal in the world.
"Fountain". The whales may appear to be breathing out sprays of water; in fact, what we see is a stream of air mixed with a small amount of water.
Willow whale (sei whale), humpback and blue whales They feed on plankton, which they filter through dense horny plates called baleen. These plates prevent large animals from entering the mouth, so these whales do not need teeth.
Humpback whale. Unlike other whales, which prefer the open sea, the humpback whale lives close to the coast, sometimes even swimming into bays and rivers. Despite its weight of 30 tons, this frisky animal loves to “dance” when it sticks out of the water.
Sperm whale. This large animal reaches up to 20 meters in length. It feeds mainly on cephalopods, such as squid, as well as fish. When getting food, it can dive to a depth of up to two thousand meters, where giant squids weighing several centners are found. A sperm whale can hold its breath for almost two hours!
Narwhal. Due to its long, straight, horn-like tooth, the narwhal cannot be confused with anyone else. This friendly animal lives in cold Arctic waters.
Killer whale. Has a reputation as a cruel and very dangerous predator; in fact, the killer whale, like other carnivores, attacks the animals on which it feeds, but there is no evidence that it has attacked people.
Dolphin. Dolphins are very easy to tame due to the fact that they are very intelligent and have exceptional learning abilities. Dolphins, like all cetaceans, make many different sounds; This dolphin “language” is being studied by scientists. Dolphins are incredibly friendly; Once upon a time, it was a dolphin who saved a shipwrecked man from attacking sharks.
Sharks. These are very ancient fish; Due to the streamlined shape of the body, when moving forward, sharks experience the negligible resistance of the water, so they swim very quickly. Unlike fish, sharks reproduce by laying eggs; Some place them at the bottom, attaching them to algae or rocks; in others, the eggs develop completely in the mother's body, and the young are born already formed. Sharks range from fearsome predators, such as the blue shark, to peaceful plankton eaters, such as the huge whale shark, which, despite its terrifying appearance, is completely harmless. The whale shark is the most big fish in the world, its body length reaches 12 meters! The blue shark is considered a man-eating shark, and there is considerable evidence that it attacks people injured in shipwrecks and swimmers.
Gray shark. Lives in tropical seas, exploring the shallows in search of fish and crustaceans. It does not attack people, but if a person gets scared and tries to escape, this shark can become very dangerous.
Sawfish. Found in warm waters Atlantic Ocean and Mediterranean Sea. A distinctive feature is the long and flat snout with small teeth arranged like the teeth of a saw. It serves the fish to comb the sandy bottom in search of small prey. Occasionally, the sawfish uses its “nose” to protect itself from enemies. Often the shark is accompanied by pilot fish; they feed on the remains of shark food, and, oddly enough, sharks do not attack them. There is an opinion that the pilot fish shows the shark the way to large schools of fish. In fact, this is just a legend without any basis.
Scat. It has a highly flattened body, which gives the impression that it is “flying” on water. Basically, the stingray lives on the bottom, at moderate depths, where it is remarkably camouflaged. Some species of stingray have a long spine on their back that secretes a strong poison. The mouth, located on the belly, has a lot of sharp teeth.
Tiger shark. This fish is called so because of the color of its skin. It swims close to the shore and feeds on everything: fish and crustaceans, birds and mammals.
Dark.
Sunlight does not penetrate water deeper than several tens of meters. Below there is constant darkness, and it is impossible to distinguish day from night. Plants cannot live without light, so there are no algae here at all. This is the reason that only predatory fish live at the depths, luring prey in various ingenious ways.
Many deep-sea fish have special luminous organs, so-called phosphors; they serve as bait that other fish cannot resist and, attracted by such “bait,” are often eaten.
Deep-sea fish are able to withstand the highest pressure; moreover, they cannot tolerate low pressure, and if they floated to the surface, they would die.
Slowly descending to the bottom of the ocean organic matter- remains of animals and plants that died in surface layers. All this constitutes the food of small benthic animals - this is the name given to the collection of organisms living on the bottom. Benthos, in turn, serves as food for fish and larger shellfish, which are watched by other predators that penetrate the abyss of the sea from shallower layers, for example, the sperm whale, which can dive to depths, despite the fact that it breathes atmospheric air.
Giant squid. One representative of this species of animal, “stranded” on the island of Newfoundland in Canada, weighed two tons. U giant squid the length of the body together with the tentacles reaches 13 - 18 meters, it is even suggested that they get involved in the depths of the oceans in fierce battles with sperm whales: on the body of which marks left by the tentacles are often noticed, and in the stomachs the remains of giant squid are found.
Pelican-like largemouth.
Always swims in the dark, keeping his huge mouth wide open; in this way he collects all the food that comes his way.
Arboreal linophryne. Very little is known about this deep-sea fish due to the difficulty of studying it in its natural habitat. Probably, most For some time, she calmly lies on the bottom, swaying a long antenna with a phosphor - a luminous organ located on her head. Other fish, having been caught on such bait, inevitably end their lives in the throat of linophryne.
Coral reefs.
Corals- these are small animals, in whose colonies there are millions of individuals, they live in tropical seas, attached to their bottom. Over time, one calcareous skeleton generated by them grows and forms coastal areas real coral reefs on which the waves crash; because of this, between the shore and the coral fence the sea is calmer, like in a port harbor.
coral reef- an ideal habitat for both animals and plants: the sea here is calm and warm, there is a lot of sunshine. If you look underwater through a scuba mask, you can see countless different picturesque fish “walking” among starfish and sea anemones.
If you dive on the other side of the reef, in the direction open sea, you may experience a feeling of severe dizziness: there is no bottom anymore - only bright blue water.
The largest coral reef, more than 2,000 kilometers long, is located along the coast of Australia. These coral fortresses are called large quarry reefs and pose a serious danger to mariners.
Atolls. The peaks of underwater volcanoes can rise above the water, forming small islands, or be located near the surface of the ocean. If coral colonies form around them, they take on an almost circular shape, forming atolls - coral islands.
Madrepores. Relatives of corals are also formed by colonies of polyps of calcareous nature. At night, they extend their tentacles, grabbing food consisting of plankton.
By the shore.
In the ocean near the coast, the most favorable conditions for the inhabitants to thrive underwater world: sunlight penetrates the water, promoting the rapid growth of algae and providing food for the animals that feed on them; these animals, in turn, themselves serve as food for predatory fish. And finally, the movement of the waves, which never reaches a depth of more than a few tens of meters, here causes mixing at the bottom, which contributes to its fertility.
The bottom can be rocky, muddy or sandy, and sometimes covered with algae. Depending on the type of seabed, it is inhabited by different animals. For example, on a sandy bottom you can find a flounder that hides in the sand, burying itself halfway into it, and an octopus finds shelter on a rocky bottom, where it is almost invisible among the rocks.
Among the rocks washed by the sea, which provide a hospitable welcome to countless animals, there is a rich life. Some of the local inhabitants, such as mussels, patellas, urchins, starfish and sea anemones, do not swim. Crustaceans, octopuses and fish such as sargus, grouper, rock perch and moray eel. The flounder and the baby dragon hide in the sand, and the sultan explores it with her long antennae in search of food. All this potential prey attracts hunter fish that live in the open sea to the coast - bayfish, large serioles and zubans.
Sea urchins. When swimming in the sea, you need to be very careful not to step on these animals: the consequences can be very sad! The sea urchin's mouth is called an Aristotelian lantern and contains five constantly growing teeth. Some hedgehogs have short and dense spines, others have long and sparse spines. They differ in color.
Crustaceans. All these animals, most of them marine, have two pairs of antennae, and some also have two solid claws that can close forcefully. During the day they usually hide in rock crevices, but at night they become more active and go in search of food, which usually consists of mollusks and dead animals.
lobster found in seas almost all over the world; its weight can reach eight kilograms.
Lobster is like lobster, it's very popular seafood product; Lobsters are caught using special traps - tops. Unlike the lobster, it has claws.
A distinctive feature of the crab is its specific way of moving sideways.
Crustaceans have a permanent burrow, where they certainly return after night forays for food: this indicates that crustaceans have a good sense of orientation. Some of them, for example, lobsters, make mass migrations over long distances.
You won't believe that such strange deep-sea creatures exist. They come in all shapes and sizes, and they are all quirky. It's like they're alien creatures that somehow ended up on Earth! Have you seen these deep sea creatures earlier? Here are 25 of the strangest creatures discovered that live deep underwater.
25. Jellyfish Marrus orthocanna
This animal is actually a colony of several polyps and jellyfish. When they are connected to each other, the orange gas that passes through them resembles the breath of fire.
24. Mantis crab
Photo: commons.wikimedia.org
This strange and colorful crustacean is quite unique! The mantis crab's eyes have 16 color receptors (humans only have 3), which means that these crustaceans have extremely developed color vision!
23. Ophiura (Basket Star)
Photo: wikimedia commons
Strange looking" Starfish", the brittle star is distinguished by the presence of a fifth middle tentacle, which branches out further and further, forming a net resembling a basket. To catch prey, these stars spread out their tentacles.
22. Tardigrades
Photo: commons.wikimedia.org
Also known as water bears, these microscopic creatures have long, plump bodies with flat heads. They are virtually indestructible and are said to survive in outer space!
21. Giant tube worms
Photo: commons.wikimedia.org
These strange creatures were completely unknown to the world until scientists studying hydrothermal vents in the Pacific Ocean discovered them nearby. Unlike other living things, they do not need light to survive: they are adapted to darkness and feed on bacteria.
20. Sixgill Shark
Photo: wikimedia commons
One of the most interesting deep sea sharks, the sixgill shark is unique because of its six gills because unlike other sharks that have five gills, this shark has six! They are also more common than other sharks, but don't worry, this creature rarely poses a threat to humans.
19. Atlantic Catfish
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This fish gets its name from its appearance: it boasts two protruding teeth that resemble wolf fangs. Fortunately, these creatures are harmless to humans and live in the Atlantic Ocean.
18. Lobster Terrible Claw
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The Terror Claw lobster was discovered in 2007. Its claws are noticeably different from those of most lobsters, which is how it gets its name. Researchers and scientists are still not sure about the purpose of the claw.
17. Giant isopod
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The giant isopod is closely related to shrimp and crabs. This isopod became so huge due to deep-sea gigantism, a phenomenon where deep-sea sea creatures grow larger than their shallow-water relatives.
16. Fish Stargazer
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This fish uses a special coloring - camouflage - to blend into the sand, exposing only its eyes. As soon as she senses her prey nearby, she sends out an electric shock to stun and capture it. This fish can be found in the Atlantic Ocean.
15. Barrel-eyed fish
Photo: wikimedia commons
Most unique feature This fish is characterized by its transparent head. The barrel-shaped eyes can rotate in the head to look straight or upward.
14. Largemouth eel
Photo: wikimedia commons
The first thing anyone can notice is the huge mouth of this eel. The mouth opens and closes freely, and can swallow animals much larger than the eel itself!
13. Dumbo the Octopus
Photo: wikimedia commons
This octopus gets its name from its pectoral fins, which resemble the ears of the Disney character Dumbo. Octopuses live at depths of at least 4,000 meters and can likely dive deeper, making this creature the deepest-sea dweller of all octopuses.
12. Viper fish
Photo: wikimedia commons
Viper fish is one of the most ferocious predators in deep sea waters Oh. This fish is easily recognized by its large mouth and sharp fang teeth. Their teeth are so long that they don't even fit into their mouths.
11. Large Mouth Shark
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Since its discovery 39 years ago, only 100 of these have been sighted, making this shark virtually non-existent after earning the title of Alien Shark. Largemouth sharks They do not pose a threat to humans because they feed by filtering plankton.
10. Monkfish (angler fish)
Photo: wikimedia commons
There are more than 200 species of anglerfish, most of which live in the dark depths of the Atlantic and Antarctic oceans. This fish gets its name from its long dorsal spine, which resembles a fishing rod.
9. Goblin Shark
Photo: wikimedia commons
When it comes to appearance, this shark is the strangest of them all. It has a flat, protruding snout that resembles a sword. Her ancestry goes back to Cretaceous period, which was on Earth about 125 million years ago.
8. Chimera
Photo: wikimedia commons
Discovered in the ocean at a depth of 1200 meters, chimeras are among the most unique fish living in the depths. They have no bones in their body: the entire skeleton consists of cartilage. To search for food, they use special sensory organs that respond to electricity.
7. Drop fish
Photo: ommons.wikimedia.org
In 2013, the Blobfish was named the World's Ugliest Animal. Blobfish can be found all over the ocean floor in the deep waters of Australia.
6. Giant squid
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The giant squid is the largest invertebrate in the world, the size of a bus! Despite this impressive size, scientists have had no luck finding traces of them other than dead carcasses caught by fishermen.
5.Long-horned sabertooth
Photo: wikimedia commons
The Longhorn Sabertooth has the longest teeth for a fish, compared to its body size. This fish is only 15 cm long and has very large teeth!
4. Vampire squid
Photo: wikimedia commons
Vampire squids are quite small, about the size of a football. This squid gets its name from its blood-red color. Interesting fact: Vampire squids do not release ink, but instead their tentacles secrete a bioluminescent sticky goo.
3. Dragon fish
Photo: wikimedia commons
The deep sea dragon lives at a depth of 1,500 meters and gets its name from its long, thin, dragon-like body. The Dragonfish has a large head and sharp teeth, as well as a growth on the underside of its chin, which the dragon uses to grab prey.
2. Frilled Shark
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Known as a living fossil, the Frilled Shark belongs to one of the oldest families of sharks. Her ancestors lived 300 million years ago! These sharks are found all over the world, but are rarely seen. The most noticeable feature of this shark is its rows of inward-facing teeth.
1. Giant Crab Spider
Photo: flickr
The giant crab spider is the largest of the known species crabs and can live up to 100 years! Its legs can reach a length of 4.5 meters, and its uneven skin allows the crab to easily blend into the seabed. Pretty awesome!
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, 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.
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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, then the person will need outside help to swim to the shore, as the pain can become unbearable and lead to loss of consciousness.
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This is a small marine bony fish of the pipefish family of the order Pipefish. 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 eat small crustaceans and shrimp. The tubular stigma acts like a pipette - the prey is drawn into the mouth along with water.
Body seahorses in the water it 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.
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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 - 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.
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The frilled shark is a species of shark that looks much more like a strange sea snake or eel. From the Jurassic, 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.
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This type of crustacean from the infraorder crabs is one of the most major representatives 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 this formidable weapon, Japanese spider crab non-aggressive and has a calm character. It is even used in aquariums as an ornamental animal.
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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.
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The purple tremoctopus or blanket octopus is a very unusual octopus. Although, octopuses are generally 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 the venom of the Portuguese Man of War jellyfish; Moreover, the intelligent octopus sometimes tears off the jellyfish's tentacles and uses them as weapons.
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Drop fish - deep-sea bottom fish sea fish family Psycholuteaceae, which due to its unattractive appearance 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. On this moment known around 940 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. Irregular hedgehogs have a flattened body shape, 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.
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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 up to huge size. The pelican fish feeds on other deep-sea fish and crustaceans that can be found at such depths.
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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.
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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.
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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 have a transparent head through which they can watch their 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 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.
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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 scary and unusual fish 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. A special growth on his back helps him hunt other inhabitants of the underwater world - one feather from dorsal fin during evolution, it separated from the others, 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 expanding or contracting 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 selection presents a wide variety of living creatures that inhabit depths of the sea: strange and unusual, creepy and frightening, colorful and incredibly cute. Many of them were opened quite recently.
Marine "flycatcher"
These shell-predators live in deep-sea canyons near California. In terms of their hunting method, they are somewhat similar to carnivorous plants; they attach themselves to the bottom and calmly wait until the unsuspecting prey swims into the gaping mouth. This way of eating prevents them from being too picky about food.
Shark pedestrian
It was discovered off the coast of Halmahera Island (Indonesia). the new kind a shark that “walked” along the bottom in search of prey, exactly like a lizard. Unusual fish a relative of the bamboo shark, it grows up to 70 cm in length. She hunts mainly at night, and her dinner is small fish and invertebrates. And by the way, this is far from the only fish, which “walks” along the seabed. Representatives of the bat and lungfish families can walk on fins.
Christmas tree
Marine fauna lovers and divers call the colorful inhabitants of the Pacific and Indian Ocean. It's actually a tubular polychaete sea worm, his Latin names– Spirobranchus giganteus.
Neither fish nor...
This is a mollusk and it does not fit at all into the idea of what gastropods should actually look like. Tethys fimbria are quite large, about 30 cm long, their almost shapeless translucent body is decorated with bright, irregularly shaped processes. Tethys are widespread in the waters of the Atlantic and Pacific Ocean, where they leisurely glide along the seabed.
Pugaporcinus
If there was a competition for the title of “weirdest worm,” Pugaporcinus would easily beat out all the other participants. These unusual inhabitants of the ocean depths are better known in narrow circles as “flying buttocks.” Their existence became known only recently, in 2007. The creature is no larger than a hazelnut.
Tripod fish
A striking distinctive feature of this fish is its long, thin pectoral fins, with which it rests on the seabed and stands in anticipation of prey. It is not surprising that the name of this fish is Brachypterois grallator or simply tripod fish. Scientists still know little about them, since the creatures live at depths from 1000 to 4500 meters. The length of the fish is about 30-35 cm.
Thaumatikht Axel
These representatives of the order of anglerfish were discovered not so long ago, and were named after Danish prince Christian Axel, who died in the middle of the last century. Axel is considered one of the strangest and most unattractive creatures, although not many people like to live at a depth of 3500 meters (just remember the Internet star - the blob fish). They reach a length of 50 cm, or rather, scientists were able to meet fish of this size. In the creature's mouth there is a special gland with glowing bacteria. To start hunting, the fish simply needs to open its mouth and potential victims will swim towards the light source.
Moonfish
Bat
A fish from the ray-finned family of the same ugly anglerfish. Widely distributed in warm tropical and subtropical seas, except the Mediterranean. Lives at depths of up to 100 meters.
Sea spiders
These harmless creatures live in almost all waters with normal salinity. Like ordinary spiders, their body is relatively small, from 1 to 7 cm, but their leg span can be up to 50 cm. There are about 1000 species of sea spiders.
Mantis crab
This colorful creature has unique vision and moves with incredible speed, but most of the time the true predator hides in coral reefs at a depth of 2 to 70 meters. Sometimes it is called a fighting cancer or even a terrorist cancer. Officially, he is a mantis crab. Why becomes clear at first glance. The segments of the jaws of these crayfish are bent at an angle, like those of mantises. Just like insects, crayfish are able to instantly throw a limb forward, much faster than a person blinks.
Giant underwater pipe
Pyrosomes or fireworms are tiny sea creatures somewhat similar to jellyfish, they are only a few millimeters long, but when united in a giant colony, they create huge translucent tubes up to several meters long. It’s also worth remembering that they are capable of bioluminescence. Imagine a huge underwater tube glowing in the night - a breathtaking sight.
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