25 Most Astonishing Sea Creatures You've Never Heard Of!

Bright Side

Get ready for an underwater adventure like no other! Join us as we discover the secrets of the deep sea with over 25 astonishing sea creatures you've probably never heard of. From the rarest to the bizarre, these ocean wonders will leave you in awe. Dive into the unknown world beneath the waves with us and prepare to be captivated by the incredible diversity of marine life!  #brightside   Animation is created by Bright Side.  ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Music from TheSoul Sound: https://thesoul-sound.com/   Listen to Bright Side on:  Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/0hUkPxD... Apple Podcast - https://podcasts.apple.com/podcast/id... ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Our Social Media: Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/brightside/ Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/brightside.... Tik Tok - https://www.tiktok.com/@brightside.of... Snapchat - https://www.snapchat.com/p/c6a1e38a-b...  Stock materials (photos, footages and other):  https://www.depositphotos.com  https://www.shutterstock.com  https://www.eastnews.ru  ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- For more videos and articles visit: http://www.brightside.me

Transcript

00:00 Wanna high-five a sea creature?

00:02 Well, put your flipper, I mean hand up, for the Tasmanian red handfish.

00:07 This fish doesn't swim like a fish.

00:09 It walks.

00:10 It uses its flipper-like hands to stroll around on the ocean floor.

00:15 These bottom walkers are disturbed by swimmers and boats a lot.

00:19 Some people even want to take them home as pets.

00:22 I think it's better to just give them a wave and swim on by.

00:26 The vampire squid.

00:28 Its species name is Vampyroteuthis infernalis, which translates to "vampire squid from hell."

00:35 Oh yes, this vampire squid means to terrify everyone with its name.

00:40 Its dark red color, its spikes at the bottom, and the scary fact that it can basically turn

00:45 itself inside out.

00:47 The vampire squid loves putting on a good show, but it's as harmless as a kitten is

00:52 to humans.

00:53 It's as if Dracula scared the pants off you, but he didn't have blood-sucking fangs.

00:59 The vampire squid feeds on food particles from plants and animal matter floating near

01:04 the ocean's surface.

01:05 Since they're not predators, they need good defensive strategies, and their vampiric look

01:10 is designed to ward off large creatures who want to eat them.

01:14 Turning themselves inside out is a defensive mechanism since the spiky areas in the inner

01:18 skin are more intimidating.

01:20 They also shoot out a substance that does not have color, but is packed with bioluminescent

01:26 particles to distract predators.

01:29 The vaquita.

01:31 Going out on a boat off the coast of Mexico sounds like the perfect vacation.

01:35 The sun, the blue water, the most endangered sea creature.

01:39 Wait, what?

01:41 The vaquita isn't dangerous, but don't expect it to stick around to say hello or sign any

01:46 autographs.

01:47 It's incredibly shy.

01:49 This little cow, that's what it means in Spanish, is one tiny sea mammal.

01:53 With those black markings around its eyes, it looks more like a sea panda to me.

01:58 Seeing one should make you feel very special.

02:00 They're on the brink of extinction, mostly because they get caught by accident in fishing

02:04 nets.

02:05 It's estimated that there's only 10 left in the wild.

02:10 The blue dragon.

02:12 This little creature looks like something out of a kid's fantasy movie.

02:15 It's called the blue glaucus, casually referred to as the blue dragon or blue angel.

02:21 It can be found in many places, the Atlantic, Pacific, and Indian Oceans.

02:26 It's kind of a mollusk and it only grows to be about an inch long.

02:30 What you think is the back is actually the mollusk's bright underbelly.

02:34 It regularly floats on its back so that its blue colors help it camouflage with the water's

02:38 waves.

02:39 The blue dragon isn't just pretty, it's also smart.

02:43 It usually feasts on Portuguese man o' wars, also known as Fissalia fissalis.

02:49 The blue dragon stores their stinging cells for later use, in essence, stealing their

02:53 defensive mechanisms.

02:55 When the blue dragon is threatened, it releases those stinging cells it's stored, directing

03:00 them at an enemy to sting them with more power than the Portuguese man o' war would have

03:04 been capable of.

03:06 As they can store a huge amount of stinging cells, they can be a threat to humans.

03:10 So if you find one, don't pick it up.

03:12 It's best to admire it from a distance.

03:15 The Barreleye Fish If you ever wanted to have Superman's x-ray

03:19 vision, looking at the barreleye fish will make you feel like you gained that superpower

03:24 at some point in your life without even realizing it.

03:27 The barreleye has a transparent head so you can see how their eyes and brain look inside.

03:32 This magnificent creature lives in the deep sea.

03:36 This is the lowest level of the ocean where strange creatures roam in near freezing temperatures

03:41 and constant darkness.

03:43 They're exposed to water's pressure that's almost 1,000 times that of the surface.

03:48 If the idea of the deep sea sends a shiver down your spine, stay tuned to learn about

03:53 another of its creatures later on.

03:56 The barreleye fish can be found in the Atlantic, Pacific, and Indian Oceans.

04:00 You might be wondering, "Why, oh why would a fish have a see-through head?"

04:05 And that would be a fair question.

04:07 Once the species was discovered in 1939, it was believed that the fish's eyes were set

04:11 to see straight ahead and couldn't move.

04:14 So it was assumed that they had tunnel vision.

04:17 Scientists Bruce Robinson and Kim Riesenbichler from the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute

04:22 recently discovered that the fish can move its eyes vertically to see through the top

04:26 of its translucent head, thus noticing if there are predators or prey nearby.

04:32 The transparent head also allows more light to enter so they can detect prey better.

04:37 It's believed that the barreleye fish eats jellyfish and small fish species.

04:43 If you dive in the ocean at night, you might be lucky enough to see how orange ball coralimorph

04:48 blooms in the dark.

04:50 But make sure to be quick because as soon as you turn on your flashlight to take a good

04:54 look, it will retract its tubes back into itself.

04:58 The megalodon.

04:59 The whale shark isn't the biggest shark known to humans.

05:03 If the entire shark species were a kingdom, the prehistoric megalodon would be the ruler

05:07 of the sea.

05:09 Megalodon roamed the ocean a long time ago, oh, about 15.9 to 2.6 million years back between

05:15 the early Miocene and late Pliocene eras.

05:18 While they've long been extinct, people are still amazed to learn about these gigantic

05:22 sea beasts.

05:24 Megalodon can reach anywhere between 45 feet to 60 feet in length with jaws more than 6

05:29 feet wide.

05:30 A fossil of a tooth that once belonged to a megalodon measured at 7 inches.

05:36 Needless to say, I'm pretty stoked that these guys have long been extinct.

05:40 But there's still some adventurers out there hoping to meet this monster one day.

05:45 The Dumbo Octopus.

05:47 This adorable creature or creepy creature, or however you want to see it, is officially

05:52 called Grimpoteuthis.

05:54 More casually, it's referred to as the Dumbo Octopus, named after the Disney character.

05:59 Though Dumbo, the elephant, not the octopus, was teased for his big ears, it's highly unlikely

06:05 that this adorable octopus gets teased by its water neighbors.

06:09 They are the deepest living octopuses, living in the deep sea.

06:13 And you know how scary that place is.

06:15 They're only about 8 inches tall and spend their days hovering just above the sea floor

06:20 eating snails, worms, and other food they find in the current or near ocean vents.

06:25 There are nearly 17 species of Dumbo Octopus, and they all have differences in height, color,

06:31 and body parts.

06:32 If you can't get enough strange animals, you'll be glad to learn that the deep sea has barely

06:36 been explored by humans.

06:38 So keep an eye out, there are bound to be more fascinating animals discovered in the

06:42 deep in the future.

06:45 The Sea Angel.

06:47 These creatures might look and sound pretty cute, but their diet is far from sunshine

06:51 and lollipops.

06:53 Their favorite food are sea butterflies.

06:55 They lay mucus traps for them and wait in ambush.

06:59 The Squat Anemone Shrimp.

07:01 This shrimp is tiny, only 0.5 inches.

07:05 It's also known as a dancer shrimp because of its peculiar behavior.

07:09 When agitated, it raises its bottom above its head and does a little dance.

07:14 Divers also say it readily jumps on their hands and cleans them.

07:19 The Coconut Crab.

07:21 This guy may look pretty creepy, especially when the sun goes down.

07:24 Mature coconut crabs are around 3 feet in length.

07:28 Their preferred foods are coconuts, but they can also hunt down lizards and even large

07:33 birds.

07:35 The Slender Snipe Eel.

07:37 Slender Snipe Eel is a slim and long creature that's still a mystery for marine scientists.

07:43 It's 4 feet long and it has at least 750 bones in its spine, which is much more than any

07:49 other animal in the world.

07:51 The Sea Pen.

07:52 Sea Pen is 7 feet long and it has a lot of varieties, but most of them look indeed like

07:58 a pen or a quill.

08:00 The similarity is even more striking when the animal has a water-filled bulb that anchors

08:04 it to the floor.

08:06 The Persian Carpet Flatworm.

08:09 This creature looks indeed like a carpet, despite being very small by comparison.

08:14 It's only 4 inches long, able to become both male and female.

08:18 It doesn't really mate with other flatworms.

08:20 Rather, it fights them for the right to bear posterity.

08:24 The Flamingo Tongue Sea Snails.

08:26 Tourists love these extraordinary snails for their pretty colors.

08:30 Thinking it's a shell, but in fact, the shell is quite dull and hidden underneath colorful

08:34 soft tissues.

08:36 They eat softer, toxic parts of corals and store their toxins to protect themselves.

08:43 The Stonefish.

08:46 Stonefish aren't going to win any beauty contests, unless the pageant is for best rock look-alike.

08:52 Their tiny unreflective eyes and rough skin blend in perfectly with their environment.

08:58 A large head, an even bigger mouth, and a home full of, yeah, it's rocks.

09:04 But just because you're on the beach, doesn't mean you're safe.

09:08 Stonefish can survive for 24 hours out of the water.

09:12 Stepping on one, or even handling one, won't be that fun.

09:16 Their dorsal fin spines have extremely strong venom.

09:19 It shoots out when they get stepped on, and can lead to paralysis or even heart failure.

09:25 You'll need help fast.

09:27 No wonder they're one of the most dangerous creatures in the water, or anywhere.

09:31 Be careful when scrambling around rocky areas.

09:34 They love to play hide and seek.

09:37 The Deep Sea Dragonfish.

09:41 If there were a prize for the most hideous fish in the ocean, the Deep Sea Dragonfish

09:46 would win.

09:47 With slimy, scaleless skin, massive teeth, and a face only a mother could love, this

09:53 bad boy of the sea is nothing to mess with.

09:56 It likes to swim between 700 feet and 6,000 feet below the surface of the ocean, where

10:02 the waters are the darkest and coldest.

10:05 Along with some other creatures on this list, the Deep Sea Dragonfish relies on its bioluminescent

10:10 body parts to catch prey.

10:13 It also uses its hanging appendage, which boasts a little red light on the end, coming

10:18 out from its lower jaw.

10:20 Many fish mistake this little light for prey, luring them right into the jaws of the Deep

10:25 Sea Dragonfish.

10:27 Very clever, Dragonfish, very clever indeed.

10:32 The Fangtooth.

10:35 The Mariana Trench is an underwater trench with a depth of 35,000 feet, nearly 7 miles

10:41 below the ocean's surface.

10:43 Let that sink in.

10:45 While scientists know the Mariana Trench exists, it's one of the least explored places on

10:50 Earth.

10:51 It's also the deepest area of Earth's oceans, and although many creatures down there probably

10:56 haven't even been seen by humans yet, scientists have had the creepy pleasure of getting to

11:01 know the Fangtooth.

11:04 The Fangtooth fish shamelessly lives up to its name.

11:08 Just look at that thing.

11:09 The Fangtooth is carnivorous and feeds on just about anything it can find that gets

11:14 caught in its sharp-toothed mouth.

11:16 These fish rely on their "contact chemoreception" to find prey.

11:21 In other words, they can sense chemical residue that comes off of other living organisms in

11:26 the deep sea.

11:28 This is because they don't have any light-producing cells on their bodies, unlike many other deep

11:33 sea fish.

11:34 On top of all that, it's pretty dark down there, so whatever crosses their path, they

11:39 chomp on.

11:41 While these guys look pretty scary, they're not a threat to humans.

11:45 They only grow about 7 inches long.

11:48 Even so, I wouldn't want to run into one of these things during a relaxing swim in the

11:52 ocean.

11:54 The Dunkleosteus.

11:57 Strangely enough, this prehistoric fish, known as the T-Rex of the seas, had no teeth.

12:04 Those were replaced with bony plates that allowed it to have the strongest bite among

12:09 other monsters of its size.

12:12 The Goblin Shark.

12:15 If you thought the movies about sharks were scary, this next deep sea creature will make

12:20 you swear off going for dips in the ocean forever.

12:23 However, it lives 3,000 feet underwater, so you'll never likely see it face to face.

12:30 The Goblin Shark looks like a cross between a shark and a creature from your worst nightmare.

12:36 These sharks boast a protruding, sword-like snout with a jaw that juts out to match.

12:42 Unlike other sharks that have more of a gray hue, this creepy thing looks not so pretty

12:47 in pink.

12:49 Aside from their scary demeanor, what do scientists really know about the Goblin Shark?

12:54 Well, not much, except that they can grow up to 18 feet in length.

12:59 Looks like there's still a lot to learn about these guys, if you dare to.

13:04 By the way, did you know that sharks don't sleep?

13:08 Many species have to keep water moving over their gills to get oxygen, so they can't

13:13 fall into a deep sleep like we do.

13:16 That's why they stay half-awake during rest.

13:19 Typically, sharks don't even close their eyes.

13:23 The Cookie Cutter Shark.

13:27 This shark is a living horror, with lower teeth being big and sharp, while the upper

13:31 ones are much smaller.

13:33 When its teeth fall off, the shark eats them to maintain calcium levels.

13:39 Pretty smart solution for a shark.

13:42 The Frilled Shark.

13:45 Studying the Frilled Shark is like looking through a portal back to prehistoric times.

13:50 That's because scientists think that these eel-like sharks haven't changed much since

13:55 their oldest ancestors roamed the deep sea waters, so they're sometimes referred to

14:00 as "living fossils."

14:02 These sharks' mouths are filled with a terrifying 25 rows of backward-facing sharp

14:07 teeth, 300 in total.

14:10 They're designed to grasp prey and hold them tight so they can't get away, according

14:15 to early studies of the shark conducted in 1884 and published in the Bulletin of the

14:20 Essex Institute.

14:22 Luckily for swimmers, the Frilled Sharks live between 390 feet and 4,200 feet below the

14:29 ocean's surface, so they'll probably never run into them.

14:34 Probably.

14:35 This is probably the worst nightmare of any dentist.

14:38 The Northern Stargazer.

14:42 Take a look at this cutie.

14:44 The Northern Stargazer is definitely not something you'd wish to see on the ocean floor.

14:49 This horrid creature hides its body under the sand, leaving its face above to wait for

14:54 prey.

14:58 The Tasseled Wobbegong.

15:02 Here's another carpet shark on our list.

15:04 It lies low on the bottom of the sea and patiently waits for its prey to come by.

15:11 The Australian Ghost Shark.

15:14 The Australian Ghost Shark isn't really even a shark, but a very bony fish.

15:19 It's also a living fossil.

15:21 It hasn't changed within the last 400 million years.

15:27 Believe it or not, sharks and humans have a common ancestor that lived around 440 million

15:33 years ago.

15:34 Even though we both evolved in our own way, there are still some signs of that connection.

15:40 For example, the genome of an elephant shark is very similar to humans.

15:47 The Leopleurodon.

15:50 This list of terrifying creatures would be incomplete without mentioning the terrifying

15:55 and prehistoric Leopleurodon.

15:58 This carnivorous marine reptile existed during the Colovian stage of the Middle Jurassic

16:04 era and ruled the waters at 9 feet in length.

16:08 Scientists believe Leopleurodon thrived in this deep sea trench because of its ability

16:13 to swim long distances and its four paddle-like limbs.

16:17 While they probably weren't able to propel themselves toward prey like other animals

16:22 of the area, they did manage to accelerate and attack very ruthlessly and efficiently.

16:28 Additionally, they relied on their long snouts to smell prey, which leads scientists to believe

16:34 they didn't rely on sight for hunting.

16:37 This means they could have thrived in the dark Mariana Trench.

16:42 Around 150 million years ago, Leopleurodon became extinct due to competition for prey

16:48 against other thriving marine reptiles.

16:51 And I think I speak for all of us when I say, "Thank goodness for that!"

16:57 Considering that scientists have only explored 5% of the ocean floor and found some of the

17:02 scariest sea creatures imaginable, one can only dream of what other animals reside in

17:08 the deep sea waters.

17:10 Perhaps it's best to keep them in your imagination, am I right?

17:15 The Megamouth shark.

17:18 This shark is a filter feeder and it's friendly to humans, although its huge mouth can look

17:23 quite threatening.

17:25 Like basking sharks, it swims with its mouth constantly wide open, as if it were on Twitter.

17:33 The Gulper eel.

17:36 This deep sea eel has an easily distended belly that allows it to swallow prey twice

17:41 its size in a single monstrous bite.

17:44 They have very unusual jaw shapes and can reach about 2-3 feet in length.

17:51 Do you see that large log near the ocean floor?

17:55 Maybe it's part of an old ship.

17:56 Treasure!

17:57 Gold!

17:58 Diamonds!

17:59 I'm rich!

18:00 As you get closer, you notice something.

18:03 It's swimming!

18:04 It's not a shark or a dolphin.

18:06 It's a saltwater crocodile!

18:09 Now don't panic.

18:11 If you bump into one of these reptiles in the sea, it's unlikely it'll think of you

18:15 as food.

18:17 Crocodiles have a special valve in their throat that stops them from drowning underwater.

18:21 But that doesn't mean they can't bite!

18:24 Usually, they're heading to a nearby island and the quickest way there is to body surf.

18:30 They can't really take the ferry, you know.

18:33 Watching one from a distance should be okay.

18:36 Just don't swim to shore right away.

18:38 They love to ambush their lunch in shallow water.

18:41 If there's one time I'd want to see a great white shark, it's when I'm diving

18:46 with crocodiles.

18:48 They'll gladly take a crocodile-sized nibble, given the right motivation.

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