You know that monster in the closet? In your child mind, it was whatever is most horrifying. Sometimes, it was just made of darkness and massive size but vague features.
In the sea, there are fish we love to eat, dolphins we love to admire, and whales with all their majesty, but you go a bit deeper and conditions change and creatures take on some very macabre, beautiful and horrifying attributes. They are like all the creatures in our closet and under our bed defined, with gruesome faces and magical qualities.
Here's just some of the wonders (and horrors) from the sea's closet:
The frilled shark (video below) are seriously ancient and amazingly creepy!
Deep sea blob sculpin (above) grows up to 70 cm and has spikes to protect it.
The stargazer fish (above) buries itself in the sand. The design of its head is even angled so that it can do this practice of anonymously lying in wait for its prey.
The viperfish (above) is a gruesome fellow. It is so predatory that its teeth will not fit into its mouth and when it propels itself forward at fast speeds to impale its prey, it has a shock-absorber like vertebra behind its head to ease the task. It has photophores along its body to camouflage itself. They possess a lure above their head that attracts prey. It's truly designed to be a brilliant killing machine of the deep sea.
The glowing suckerfish (above) is perhaps a most comical deep sea creature.
The sea pig (above) is in the sea cucumber family.
The Stonefish (above) is a dangerous creature that is the most venomous fish in the world.
The vampire squid (above) is only 6 inches long and its body is more like a jellyfish than a regular squid. It has the largest eyes (relative to its body) of any creature and can propel itself two body lengths in 1 second. It gets its name for its reddish cape and spooky eyes.
**Tomorrow's post is "Tragedies and Legends: Lighthouse Keepers"**
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