Five Ocean Animals You Probably Didn't Know Existed!
Published January 28, 2015
Our vast, unexplored ocean is home to an extraordinary array of life. Here’s a look at some of the strange species you probably didn’t know were out there!
Photo via OpenCage
Frilled Shark
With an eel-like body and 25 rows of razor-sharp teeth, this fearsome looking shark has been roaming the ocean for about 80 million years. While rarely seen, one of these ancient animals was just recently caught in a trawler’s net off the coast of Australia!
Photo via Wikicommons
Frogfish
This bizarre looking fish spends most of its time on the ocean floor. It rarely swims, instead preferring to “walk” along the seafloor with the help of its pelvic and pectoral fins. The frogfish may be slow-moving, but it can capture its prey in a matter of milliseconds. You can see a frogfish right here at the National Aquarium!
Photo via Smithsonian.com
Blobfish
The blobfish might not be the most aesthetically pleasing fish, but its minimal muscles and skeletal structure allow it to survive the intense pressure found thousands of feet below the ocean’s surface where it lives.
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Photo via Wikicommons
Giant Isopod
Roly-poly, potato bug, pill bug? Whatever name you have for that small garden pest, the giant isopod is its deep see counterpart. These carnivorous bottom dwellers live on the muddy seafloor and are typically between 7 and 14 inches long!
Photo via Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History
Yeti Crab
It’s clear where the yeti crab gets its name. This recently discovered creature's limbs are covered in soft hairs. This species is a distant relative of the hermit crab and typically found at the bottom of the ocean around hydrothermal vents.
Join us this spring, as we explore even more of the wildest, deepest, coldest corners of the ocean in our 2015 Marjorie Lynn Bank Lecture Series, "Ocean Extremes: Wild Underwater Worlds."