The underwater world is full of many inhabitants. Everyone who has encountered scuba diving has forever preserved in his memory unforgettable impressions of the beauty and diversity of flora and fauna of the sea or ocean bottom.
Sponges
Along with a variety of fish, unusual algae on the seabed, there are creatures so extraordinary that it is impossible to determine which category they belong to.
Sponges are one of these creatures. They have neither internal organs nor sense organs. At first glance, you cannot say that this is an animal.
And yet it is so. The sponges are arranged primitively, adapted to life exclusively at the bottom of the seas, and the depth does not play any role for the comfortable existence of the sponges. The territory of their distribution is very large, and the number of varieties is enormous. Some of them survive even at the North Pole!
Sponges look different. There are individuals of a spherical shape, elongated, or even in the shape of an ellipse. Colors also vary: from pale and light to bright, saturated.
Sponges are multicellular animals that survive in all conditions.
The sponge feels very fragile to the touch, since its entire body is porous. Through these pores, the sponge breathes and nourishes. Water flows through the pores, leaving fine marine plankton in the body of the sponge.
The vitality of the sponges is also surprising. They have an excellent ability to regenerate: no matter how many small parts the sponge is divided into, it will certainly be able to recover. Sponges live from several months to fifty years.
Coral
A more accurate name for such well-known organisms as corals is "coral polyps". What we tend to think of as a coral is actually the skeleton of a coral polyp. The coral polyp is very small in size, its shape is not as picturesque as the shape of its skeleton, but rather resembles a grain of rice. The coral polyp does not have a spine, but it does have tentacles.
After the death of a polyp, its skeleton (otherwise it is called "coralite"), connecting with others, creates a coral reef. New polyps develop directly on the skeletons of old ones, significantly changing the topography of the seabed.
Coral reefs are incredibly beautiful and very attractive for scuba divers. Corals are different. Coral reefs are made up mostly of stony corals. There are also soft corals and horn corals (their scientific name is "gorgonians"). All corals are united by a love of the tropical climate and high water temperatures. For example, the Black Sea is not warm enough for these creatures.
Today we know at least five hundred species of coral. Almost all of them prefer to dwell at shallow depths.
The coral polyp is very fragile without its strong calcareous skeleton. They live on the bottom or resemble a bush or tree in shape. Their colors are varied and very intricate. Coral can grow to a significant size - from one and a half to two meters. Corals are inhabitants of the seas and oceans. Fresh water is harmful to them.
For normal life, corals need sunlight. These organisms breathe using tiny algae that live directly in the tissues of the polyp's body.
Corals eat plankton. It sticks to their tentacles, which then send food into their mouths. The mouth is located under the tentacles.
Sometimes, due to tectonic processes, the ocean floor ceases to be hidden by water. In this case, the coral reef that got up becomes the basis for a new island.
Over time, it has its own flora and fauna, and then people settle on this island. This is how some of the inhabited islands of Oceania emerged.
Starfish, hedgehogs, lilies
Such creatures unlike anyone else as starfish, sea urchins and sea lilies are classified as echinoderms. They live exclusively in salt water, therefore their habitat is the sea and ocean bottom.
Starfish can reach significant sizes - up to a meter in diameter. Along with such large specimens, there are also very tiny ones - up to several millimeters.
A starfish can have up to fifty "rays" - the processes on which the eyes are located. These eyes are capable of distinguishing light. Starfish are usually brightly colored and have a wide range of colors. We can say that they come in all colors of the rainbow!
Despite the seeming slowness and lack of teeth, starfish are excellent predators. Firstly, they are practically omnivorous, literally capable of eating everything that they cannot eat themselves.
Secondly, the point is in the special structure of the stomach of the starfish, capable of digesting food even outside the body of its owner. That is, it is not necessary for a starfish to penetrate the shell of a mollusk itself in order to feast on its contents. It is enough to put your stomach there and start the digestive process. And in the execution of this process, the possibilities are almost unlimited. She is able to cope even with live fish.
Sea urchins are no less gluttonous. They eat almost all the inhabitants of the underwater kingdom: plants and animals, fish and molluscs, living and dead, and even each other. Their powerful jaw allows hedgehogs to even gnaw stones.
They are animals indistinguishable from real flowers. The similarity is aggravated by the fact that, like plants, they are immobile. The only difference is that sea lilies, in contrast to the real ones, do not have stems.
The sea urchin is an inhabitant of the seas and oceans. Jellyfish
Jellyfish are remarkable in that almost 100% of their mass is water.
The process of the appearance of a jellyfish into the world is no less bizarre than the appearance of this unusual creature. The eggs laid by an adult jellyfish produce larvae, which later transform into a bush-like polyp. From it, tiny newborn jellyfish buds, which are to grow into an adult.
The variety of jellyfish is amazing. Among them there are crumbs with a diameter of several millimeters, and real giants over two meters in diameter. The tentacles of such giants are also gigantic: almost thirty meters. The habitat of jellyfish is the entire thickness of sea water, they feel equally well both on the surface of the water and at the very bottom of the sea.
Jellyfish are adorable in appearance, but some of them can be deadly. The fact is that the jellyfish leads the life of a predator, and its tentacles are not only decoration and means of transportation, but also a weapon for hunting. They contain a kind of thread that has thorns and contains a paralyzing fluid. The slightest touch of the devilishly beautiful jellyfish for a small marine organism can result in death, for a larger creature - a serious burn.
Jellyfish stings can cause severe burns on the human body, and some species of venom can be deadly. The most dangerous jellyfish do not always look especially large or bright. For example, an inconspicuous jellyfish called "cross" (because of the cross-shaped pattern on its "umbrella") the size of a five-kopeck coin is incredibly dangerous to humans. Touching it threatens to get severe burns. But this is not the worst thing. Following the burn, the person begins to choke. And since meetings with this jellyfish, of course, take place in the water, the outcome of such a meeting is most often disappointing.
What else distinguishes jellyfish from other inhabitants of the underwater kingdom of this kind is the speed of movement. Their "umbrella" is very mobile, and its shape allows you to move from place to place rather quickly.
Underwater inhabitants are changeable, as is the sea itself. More recently, a huge jellyfish has appeared in the Sea of Japan. Its weight was one and a half hundred kilograms. Most importantly, this was not an isolated incident. The relatives of this jellyfish also began to grow actively. Perhaps this rapid growth is caused by the warming of the World Ocean.
In addition to such amazing and incomparable creations of nature, as the above-named creatures, well-known and familiar mammals live in the seas and oceans. Water is not a permanent home for all of them, as, for example, for dolphins. Many people use it as a food source and hunting ground. Naturally, all mammals associated with water are wonderful swimmers.
It is interesting to note that water can support any weight, and therefore many marine mammals are much larger than their terrestrial counterparts.
Of those mammals that live in the water constantly, the following groups can be distinguished: cetaceans, pinnipeds, sirens and sea otters. Cetaceans include whales themselves, as well as dolphins. Pinnipeds include walruses and all types of seals. Dugongs, similar to mythical sirens or mermaids, belong to the category of sirens. It should be noted that cetaceans and sirens never come ashore, but pinnipeds and sea otters rest and breed on the shore, and feed and hunt in the sea.
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The sea, which most people associate with summer vacations and a wonderful pastime on a sandy beach under the scorching rays of the sun, is the source of most of the unsolved mysteries stored in unexplored depths.
The existence of life underwater
Swimming, having fun and enjoying the sea during vacations, people have no idea what is close to them. And there, in a zone of deep impenetrable darkness, where not a single ray of sunlight reaches, where there are no acceptable conditions for the existence of any organisms, there is a deep-sea world.
The first exploration of the deep sea
The first natural scientist who risked plunging into the abyss in order to check whether the inhabitants of the sea depths exist was William Beebe, an American zoologist who specially assembled an expedition to study the unknown world near the Bahamas. Diving to the bottom in a bathyscaphe to a depth of 790 meters, the scientist discovered many different living organisms. depths - fish of impressive size in all colors of the rainbow with hundreds of paws and sparkling teeth - sparkled and sparkled the impenetrable water.
The studies of this fearless man made it possible to break the myths about the impossibility of life at the bottom due to the absence of light and the presence of the highest pressure, which does not allow the presence of any organisms. The truth lies in the fact that deep-sea inhabitants, adapting to the environment, create a similar external pressure of their own. The available fat layer helps these organisms to swim freely at great depths (up to 11 kilometers). Eternal darkness adapts to itself such unusual creatures: the eyes, which they do not need there, are replaced by baroreceptors - special and sense of smell, allowing you to instantly react to the slightest changes around.
Fantastic images of sea monsters
Deep-sea monsters have a frighteningly ugly appearance associated with the fantastic images captured in the paintings of the most daring artists. Huge mouths, sharp teeth, absence of eyes, external coloration - all this is so unusual that it seems unreal, invented. In fact, the depths in order to survive are forced to simply adapt to the whims the environment.
After many studies, scientists have come to the conclusion that even today on the seabed, ancient life forms may exist, hidden at great depths from the ongoing evolutionary processes. To this day, you can find spiders the size of a plate and jellyfish with 6-meter tentacles.
Megalodon: Monster Shark
Of great interest is the megalodon - a prehistoric animal of enormous size. The weight of this monster is up to 100 tons with a 30-meter length. The two-meter mouth of the monster is dotted with several rows of 18-centimeter teeth (there are 276 of them), razor-sharp.
The life of an amazing inhabitant of the depths of the sea terrifies none of which is unable to resist its power. The remains of triangular teeth that deep-sea monsters had are found in rocks in almost all corners of the planet, which indicates their wide distribution. At the beginning of the 20th century, Australian fishermen met with a megalodon in the sea, which confirms the version of its existence today.
Angler or Monkfish
The salty waters are inhabited by the rarest deep-sea animal of an ugly appearance - the anglerfish (anglerfish), first discovered in 1891. In place of the missing scales on his body are ugly bumps and growths, and around his mouth swaying rags of skin, reminiscent of algae, hang. Due to its dark color, giving a nondescript, spiked giant head and a huge mouth gap, this deep-sea animal is rightfully considered the ugliest on planet Earth.
Several rows of sharp teeth and a long fleshy outgrowth sticking out of the head and serving as bait are a real threat to fish. Luring the victim with the light of a "fishing rod" equipped with a special gland, the angler lures it to its very mouth, forcing it to swim inside of its own free will. Distinguished by an incredible gluttony, these amazing inhabitants of the deep sea can attack prey many times larger than them. If the outcome is unsuccessful, both die: the victim from wounds, the aggressor from suffocating.
Interesting facts about angler fish breeding
The fact of reproduction of these fish is of interest: the male, when meeting with a friend, digs into her with his teeth, growing to the operculum. Connecting to a foreign circulatory system and feeding on the juices of the female, the male individual actually becomes one with her, losing the jaws, intestines, and eyes that have become unnecessary. The main function of the attached fish during this period is to produce sperm. Several males can be attached to one female, several times smaller than her in size and weight, which, if the latter dies, die with her. As a commercial fish, the monkfish is considered a delicacy. The French especially appreciate its meat.
Huge squid - mesonychtevis
Of the most famous mollusks of the planet, living at great depths, mesonychtevis is striking in its size - a squid of colossal size with a streamlined body that allows it to move at great speed. The eye of this monster of the deep sea is considered the largest on the planet, reaching a diameter of 60 centimeters. The first description of a huge inhabitant of the seabed, the existence of which people did not even suspect, is found in the documents of 1925. They tell about the discovery by fishermen of a sperm whale one and a half meter in the stomach. In 2010, a representative of this group of mollusks weighing more than 100 kg and about 4 meters long was thrown off the coast of Japan. Scientists suggest that adults reach 5 meters in size and weigh about 200 kilograms.
Previously, it was believed that the squid is able to destroy its enemy - the sperm whale - by keeping it under water. In reality, the threat to the victim of the mollusk is represented by its tentacles, with which it penetrates the blowhole of the victim. A feature of the squid is its ability to exist for a long time without food, therefore the lifestyle of the latter is sedentary, suggesting camouflage and quiet pastime in waiting for the unfortunate victim.
Amazing sea dragon
A deciduous sea dragon (rag-picker, sea pegasus) stands out for its fantastic appearance in the thickness of salt waters. The translucent fins of a greenish hue, covering the body and serving to disguise the unusual fish, resemble colorful plumage and are constantly swaying from the movement of the water.
Inhabited only off the coast of Australia, the rag picker reaches a length of 35 centimeters. It swims very slowly, with a maximum speed of up to 150 m / h, which suits any predator. The life of an amazing inhabitant of the deep sea consists of many dangerous situations in which your own appearance is salvation: clinging to plants, the deciduous sea dragon merges with them and becomes completely invisible. The offspring bears the male in a special bag, in which the female lays eggs. These inhabitants of the deep sea are especially interesting for children because of their unusual appearance.
Giant isopod
In the sea space, among the many unusual creatures, such inhabitants of the depths of the sea as isopods (gigantic crayfish), reaching a length of up to 1.5 m and weighing up to 1.5 kg, stand out for their size. The body, covered with movable rigid plates, is reliably protected from predators, upon the appearance of which the crayfish curl up into a ball.
Most of the representatives of these crustaceans, preferring solitude, live at a depth of 750 meters and are in a state close to hibernation. Amazing inhabitants of the sea depths feed on sedentary prey: small fish that sink to the bottom with carrion. Sometimes hundreds of crayfish can be seen devouring the decaying carcasses of dead sharks and whales. The lack of food at a depth has adapted the crayfish to do without it for a long time (up to several weeks). Most likely, the accumulated layer of fat, gradually and rationally spent, helps them to maintain their vital functions.
Drop fish
One of the scariest bottom dwellers on the planet is the drop fish (see below for deep-sea photos).
Small, close-set eyes and a large mouth with downward angled corners vaguely resemble the face of a sad person. It is assumed that the fish lives at depths of up to 1.2 km. Outwardly, it is a shapeless gelatinous lump, the density of which is slightly less than that of water. This allows the fish to swim calmly over considerable distances, swallowing everything edible and without spending much effort. The lack of scales and the strange shape of the body put the existence of this organism in danger of extinction. Living off the coast of Tasmania and Australia, it easily becomes a prey for fishermen and is sold as souvenirs.
When laying eggs, the drop fish sits on the eggs to the last, then carefully and for a long time taking care of the hatched fry. Trying to find quiet and uninhabited places for them in deep water, the female responsibly protects her babies, ensuring their safety and helping them survive in difficult conditions. Having no natural enemies in nature, these inhabitants of the deep sea can accidentally get caught with algae only in fishing nets.
Sackgut: small and gluttonous
At a depth of up to 3 kilometers, a representative of the perch-like species lives - the sack-throat (black devourer). The fish got this name due to the ability to feed on prey, several times larger than it. She can swallow organisms four times longer than herself and ten times heavier. This is due to the lack of ribs and the elasticity of the stomach. For example, the corpse of a 30-centimeter sackcloth found near the Cayman Islands contained the remains of a fish about 90 cm long. Moreover, the victim was a rather aggressive mackerel, which causes complete bewilderment: how could a small fish defeat a large and strong rival?
These amazing inhabitants of the deep sea have a dark color, a medium-sized head and large jaws with three front teeth on each of them, forming sharp fangs. With their help, the sackcloth holds its victim, pushing it into the stomach. Moreover, the prey, often large in size, is not digested immediately, which causes cadaveric decomposition directly in the stomach itself. The gas released as a result of this raises the sack to the surface, where they find strange representatives of the seabed.
Moray eel - a dangerous predator of the deep sea
In the waters of the warm seas, you can find a giant moray eel - a terrible three-meter creature with an aggressive and vicious character. The smooth, scaleless body allows the predator to effectively camouflage in the muddy bottom, waiting for prey swimming by. Moray eels spend most of their life in shelters (on a rocky bottom or in coral reefs with their cracks and grottoes), where they wait for prey.
Outside the caves, the front part of the body and the head are usually left with a constantly open mouth. The moray eel color is an excellent disguise: the yellow-brown color with spots scattered over it resembles the color of a leopard. Moray eats crustaceans and any fish that can be caught. For eating sick and weak individuals, she is also referred to as a "marine orderly". Sad cases of eating people are known. This happens due to the inexperience of the latter when communicating with fish and with persistent pursuit of it. Having grabbed the prey, the predator will open its jaws only after its death, and not earlier.
Joint fishery of marine predators
The recently discovered joint fishing of fish, which are antipodes in nature, is of great interest to scientists. During the hunt, the moray eel hides in coral reefs, where it waits for prey. being a predator, it hunts in open space, which forces small fish to hide in reefs, therefore, in the mouth of a moray eel. A hungry perch always initiates a joint hunt, swimming up to the moray eel and shaking its head, which means an invitation to a mutually beneficial fishing. If the moray eel, in anticipation of a delicious lunch, agrees to a tempting offer, it gets out of the hiding place and swims to the gap with the hiding prey, which is indicated by the perch. Moreover, jointly caught prey is also jointly eaten; The moray eel is shared with the perch by the caught fish.
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 the knowledge of people. But we still managed to get some interesting information, for example, about what kind of creatures live deep under water, where sunlight does not penetrate.
1st place. Batizaurus
This lizard-headed creature is very reminiscent of long-extinct dinosaurs in a reduced form. Probably, for this similarity it got its name. Batizaurus lives in the seas of tropical and subtropical climates at a depth of 600 to 3500 meters and reaches a length of 50-65 cm. It is considered the deepest predator, such a mini-machine - a killer, devouring everything that comes in its way. Even on the tongue, the batizaurus has teeth. By the way, this monster is a hermaphrodite, that is, it has both male and female sexual characteristics.
2nd place. Angler
This is probably the ugliest creature in the world, seeing him, one cannot help but be scared. There are about 200 species of deep-sea monkfish, most of which are found in the Atlantic Ocean. Some of these creatures grow up to a meter, and prey is lured with a glowing tail. Their mouths are so large, and the body itself is so flexible that they can swallow prey twice their size.
3rd place. Frilled Shark
This prehistoric creature lived and hunted beautifully back in the days when dinosaurs roamed the earth. People very rarely have the opportunity to contemplate this formidable predator, since the frilled shark prefers to stay at a depth of 1500 meters, where it hunts mainly cephalopods.
4th place. Fish is a drop
This fish is somewhat reminiscent of 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. In a fish - a drop does not have an air bubble, and the body consists of a jelly-like substance, slightly denser than water, which allows it to easily move along the seabed.
5th place. Fish - lion
According to some reports, 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 them, and as a result, they themselves become prey. These fish have poisonous thorns, so the only one who can eat a fish - a lion - is another fish - a lion, 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. It is easily recognizable by its large mouth with huge sharp fangs. In fact, the teeth are so long that they do not fit in her mouth and reach her eyes. Like the monkfish, 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 a victim larger than her.
7th place. Woodlice devouring the tongue
8th place. Sack swallow, or black devourer
This fish, up to 30 cm long, lives in the seas of a subtropical climate. It got its name from its elastic stomach, which can accommodate fish, four times the size of a bag-bag in size. The lower jaw has no bony connection to the skull, and there are no ribs on the abdomen. All this helps the fish to swallow food.
9th place. Macropinna Microstoma
This small fish is known for its transparent head, inside which there are green eyes. It lives in the cool waters of the Pacific and Arctic Ocean at a depth of 200 to 600 meters.
10th place. Sea bat
This is a bottom 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.
Incredible facts
The oceans cover about 70 percent of the earth's surface and provide about half of the air we breathe, thanks to microscopic phytoplankton.
Despite all this, the oceans remain the biggest mystery. Thus, 95 percent of the world's oceans and 99 percent of the ocean floor remain unexplored.
Here are examples of the most unimaginable creatures that live in the depths of the ocean.
1. Smallmouth macropyne
Smallmouth Macropyne(Macropinna microstoma) belongs to a group of deep-sea fish that have developed a unique anatomical structure to fit their lifestyle. These fish are extremely fragile, and specimens of fish that have been hunted by fishermen and researchers are deformed due to the pressure drop.
The most unique characteristic of this fish is its soft, transparent head and barrel-shaped eyes. Usually fixed upward with green "lens caps" to filter sunlight, the Macropinna Malorota's eyes can be rotated and extended.
In fact, what appears to be the eyes are sensory organs. Real eyes are located under the canopy of the forehead.
2. Batizaurus
Bathysaurus ferox sounds like a dinosaur, which, in principle, is not far from the truth. Bathysaurus ferox refers to the deep-sea lizardheads that live in the tropical and subtropical seas of the world, at a depth of 600-3,500 m. Its length reaches 50-65 cm.
It is considered the deepest-living super predator in the world and everything that comes his way is immediately devoured. As soon as the jaws of this devilish fish slam shut, the game is over. Even her tongue is dotted with razor-sharp fangs.
It is hardly possible to look at her face without shuddering, and it is even more difficult for her to find a match for herself. But this does not bother this formidable underwater inhabitant too much, since he has both male and female genitals.
3. Viper fish
The viper fish is one of the most unusual deep-sea fish. Known as hauliod ordinary(Chauliodus sloani), she is one of the ocean's most ruthless predators. This fish is easily recognizable by its large mouth and sharp, canine-like teeth. In fact, these canines are so large that they do not fit in her mouth, curling closer to her eyes.
The viper fish uses its sharp teeth to pierce its prey, swimming towards it at a very high speed. Most of these creatures have an expanding stomach, which allows them to swallow fish larger than themselves in one sitting. At the end of its spine is a luminous organ that the fish uses to attract its prey.
It lives in tropical and temperate waters around the world at a depth of 2,800 m.
4. Deep sea angler
Deep sea angler ( Deep sea anglerfish) looks like a creature from a sci-fi world. Perhaps one of the ugliest animals on our planet and lives in the most inhospitable environment - on the lonely dark seabed.
There are over 200 species of monkfish, most of which live in the gloomy depths of the Atlantic and Antarctic oceans.
The monkfish lures its prey with an elongated dorsal spine, bending it around the bait, while the end of the spine lights up to attract unsuspecting fish to its mouth and sharp teeth. Their mouths are so large and their bodies so flexible that they can swallow prey that is twice their size.
5. Pig squid
Known as Helicocranchia Pfefferi This cute creature is a real outlet for the frightening toothy fish associated with deep-sea expanses. This squid species lives about 100 m below the ocean surface. Due to its deep ocean habitat, its behavior has not been sufficiently studied. These inhabitants are not the fastest swimmers.
Their body is almost completely transparent, except for some cells containing pigments called chromatophores, thanks to which these inhabitants acquire such a charming appearance. They are also known for their luminous organs called photophores, which are located under each eye.
6. Japanese spider crab
The spider crab has a leg span of 4 meters, with a body width of about 37 cm and a weight of about 20 kg. Japanese spider crabs can live up to 100 years, just like the largest and oldest lobsters.
These subtle inhabitants of the sea day are ocean cleaners, cracking down on deceased deep-sea inhabitants.
The eyes of the Japanese crab are located in front with two horns between the eyes, which shorten with age. As a rule, they live at a depth of 150 to 800 m, but most often at a depth of 200 m.
Japanese spider crabs are considered a real delicacy, but recently the catch of these crabs has been declining thanks to a program to protect these deep-sea species.
7. Drop fish
This fish lives off the coast of Australia and Tasmania at a depth of about 800 m. Given the depth of the water in which it swims, the drop fish does not have a swim bladder like most fish, as it is not very effective under strong water pressure. Her skin is composed of a gelatinous mass that is slightly denser than water, which allows her to float over the ocean floor without any hassle. The fish grows up to 30 cm in length, feeding mainly on sea urchins and shellfish that swim by.
Although inedible, this fish is often caught alongside other prey such as lobster and crabs, making it endangered. A distinctive external characteristic of a drop fish is its unhappy facial expression.
8. Woodlice devouring the tongue
Surprisingly, the snapper itself does not suffer much from this process, continuing to live and feed after the wood louse found a permanent place of residence in him.
9. Frilled shark
Humans have rarely seen a frilled shark, which prefers to stay at the depth of the ocean about 1,500 meters below the surface of the ocean. Considered living fossils Frilled sharks actually have many characteristics of ancestors that have swum in the seas since the days of the dinosaurs.
Frilled sharks are believed to grab their prey by bending their body and lunging forward like a snake. The long and flexible jaw allows it to completely absorb the prey, while the many small and needle-sharp teeth prevent the prey from escaping. It feeds mainly on cephalopods, as well as bony fish and sharks.
10. Lionfish (or Lion Fish)
It is believed that the first lionfish or Pterois, with a beautiful color and large spiny fins, appeared in the sea waters on the shores of Florida in the early 90s of the last century. Since then, they have spread across the Caribbean, becoming a real punishment for marine life.
These fish eat other species, and it seems that they are constantly eating. They themselves possess long poisonous thorns that protects them from other predators. In the Atlantic Ocean, local fish are not familiar with them and do not recognize the danger, and the only species here that can eat them is the lionfish themselves, since they are not only aggressive predators, but also cannibals.
The venom released by their thorns makes the bites even more painful, and for those suffering from heart disease or allergic reactions, it can be fatal.
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