FW: 24 Utterly Bizarre Sea Creatures

[Himanshu Sheth]

 

 

24 Utterly Bizarre Sea Creatures

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	Thu, Dec 24, 2015 at 11:12 PM
24 Utterly Bizarre Sea Creatures We are land creatures: We breathe air, walk only on solid ground, and rarely move up and down unless we're on an elevator. We're used to this world, and we know what sort of animals we might run into on land (although they may still surprise us at times). But even now, in this modern age, the enormous ocean still hides many fantastic secrets. Most of these surprises are biological in nature, turning out the most incredible, alien-looking and bizarre life forms, so different from our own, yet fascinating to see. 1. Barreleye Fish Like With its transparent head and its big, tennis ball eyes, this fish is one of the most extraordinary creatures I've ever seen.   2. Comb Jellies Like The rainbow colors decorating this jellyfish are a result of a clever use of light diffraction, similar to how a rainbow is created. It swims with the help of a group of comb-like eyelash hairs, from which it gets its name.   3. Salp Like The salp plays an important role in the ocean, as it turns its own bodily waste into carbon packages that sink to the bottom of the ocean and efficiently removes carbon from the water's surface.   4. Goblin Shark Like With its nail-like teeth, its unhinging jaw and its overall appearance, this is one being I'm actually happy is rarely seen by men. It usually stays unseen in the depths of the ocean.   5. Sea Spiders Like If you thought the ocean is the one place where you won't run into spiders, think again! However, although they look a lot like land spiders, there is no genetic correlation between them - they are completely different.   6. Blobfish Like This fish was voted the ugliest fish in the world, but looks like a normal fish when it's in its natural environment - 1200 meters below the sea.   7. Bobbit Worm Like This vicious 'worm' can grow as big as 3 meters long and attack with such power that they can cut a fish in two.   8. Flower Hat Jellyfish Like This jellyfish feeds on fish (and sometimes other jellyfish) and can grow or shrink according to the food supply available. Imagine making yourselves bigger or smaller according to how hungry you were!   9. Leafy Seadragon Like This slow fish comes from the same family as sea horses, and they rely on their alga-looking body for camouflage from predators. - Advertisement -   10. Marrus orthocanna Like This is actually a colony of creatures, containing several jellyfish and polyps that have gone through changes and are now functioning as the organs of a shared body.   11. Atolla Jellyfish Like This jellyfish definitely looks like a UFO, and like most jellyfish, it too has no digestive, breathing, blood or nervous systems.   12. Sarcastic Fringehead Like These territorial fish are usually found hidden at the bottom of the sea. When they open their wide mouths they cause other fish to mistaken them for a predator fish, causing them to keep their distance.   13. Glass Squid Like There are about 60 sub-species of the glass squid, which makes them the largest family of squids, while also the prettiest, perhaps?   14. Pink See-Through Fantasia Like As the name of this deep-sea creature suggests, this fish is so see-through that you can actually see its digestive system.   15. Squidworm Like This creature has 10 arms coming out of its head, which are actually longer than its entire body. The squidworm uses them to collect food from around the ocean as it passes near it.   16. Terrible Claw Lobster Like This creature, who seems to have just come out of your worst nightmare, was discovered in 2007 by marine biologists - they quickly classified a whole new gene family - just for it. May also interest you: Now This is What Photography is All About...   This Planet Will Never Stop Amazing Me...   I Feel Like I’ve Traveled the World Thanks to These Photos   17. Venus Flytrap Sea Anemone Like This sea anemone is named after the Venus Flytrap plant because of the similarity in the way it catches food in its 'mouth'.   18. Mola Mola Fish / Sunfish Like The mola mola fish is the largest bony fish and has been known to reach a weight of up to 5,000 pounds.   19. Water Bear Like This is no bear, it's actually almost microscopic, reaching a length of less than 1mm. However, these little creatures are TOUGH. They can survive temperatures that range from absolute zero (-457℉) up to 357℉, withstand radiation 1000 times more powerful than other animals can take, and can even come back to life after being dried out for 10 years. They are the first animals, known to be able to survive the vacuum of space.   20. Flamingo Tongue Snail Like This colorful little fella had its dots not on the shell, but on its actual flesh, that envelops around the shell.   21. Nudibranch Like Also known as sea slugs, there are over 3000 types of nudibranchs and they include some of the craziest looking ocean creatures.   22. Dumbo Octopus Like The species is named after the ears of Dumbo, the famous cartoon elephant. This octopus lives about 4 km below the sea surface, deeper than any other octopus.   23. Ribbon Eel Like The ribbon eel may look pretty ordinary, but its one of the only species of the planet to be able to change sexes. They start out males, all of them, but as soon as they mature, many will start developing female parts.   24. Red-Lipped Batfish Like These fish, look like a well-lipsticked woman. They use their fins to walk on the floor of the ocean, seeing as they aren't very good swimmers.

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Yogesh Goradia