Spooky Ocean Creatures

Our ocean is home to incredible wildlife—charismatic creatures like whales, sea turtles, and manta rays—and countless other species that fill us with awe and wonder. For many, the ocean conjures up images of sun-dappled coral reefs, pods of playing dolphins, or giant schools of fish.

But there are also many species that live beyond the illumination of the sun’s rays that have developed fascinating adaptations for surviving in the harsh mid-to-deep ocean. Creatures that live at such depths must cope with conditions like low oxygen, extremely high pressures, low food availability, and complete darkness. And the deeper you go, the stranger things get.

To celebrate Halloween, here are some of the spookiest creatures that call the ocean’s cold, dark depths home.  

Goblin Shark

The goblin shark is a rare species of deep-sea shark that tends to dwell on the ocean floor along continental shelves. They have been found in the Atlantic, Indo-Pacific, Oceania, and the Pacific. It is the only living member of the Mitsukurinidae family left, whose lineage is some 125 million years old. It is one of seven species of shark considered to be a living fossil.

Goblin sharks tend to dwell on the ocean floor along continental shelves and have been found in the Atlantic, Indo-Pacific, Oceania, and the Pacific. While the majority of goblin sharks that have been caught were found between depths of 200 and 1,000 feet, they are known to swim up to depths of 4,000 feet. Adults usually grow to between 10 and 13 feet, though a 20-foot female discovered in 2000 showed that they can get quite a bit bigger than previously thought.

Photo 3
Photo courtesy of National Geographic Kids.

Goblin sharks are very distinctive due to their long, flat snouts. When fish, crustaceans or mollusks come within striking distance, its jaws can spring forward toward the prey. A sucking motion then helps to bring the prey into its mouth.

Goblin sharks have been spotted the most off the coast of Japan (about half of all sightings) and are named for their resemblance to the goblins of Japanese folklore.

Vampire Squid

While the vampire squid’s name and appearance may be rather frightening, these creatures are only about 6 inches long, with a maximum length of a foot. They live deep down in the ocean between 1,500 and 10,000 feet. Oxygen is scarce this far down, and vampire squid inhabit what is called the oxygen minimum zone, or OMZ. One result of this is that there is not enough oxygen for aerobic metabolism to occur in many organisms. The vampire squid, however, is able to survive in an oxygen saturation value as low as 3%, and breathe normally—something no other cephalopod can do.

Photo 1
A vampire squid in a defensive display. Photo courtesy of Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute.

Instead of spewing ink when threatened, the vampire squid turns nearly inside out, exposing small spines called cirri. If feeling very threatened, these animals can produce a cloud of sticky, bioluminescent mucus with orbs of blue light. Coupled with wiggling its glowing arms and erratic movements, it is more difficult for a predator to choose where to attack, allowing the squid to vanish.

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Artistic rendering showing the vampire squid’s bioluminescence. Photo courtesy of Ocean Coast Aquarium.

Anglerfish

There are over 200 species of anglerfish, and while they can be found throughout the ocean, most live in the waters of the Atlantic and Antarctic. Some live in shallow tropical waters while others live more than a mile down.

Deep sea angle fish Melanocoetus sp

A deep sea anglerfish, one of the many deep sea species. Photo courtesy of David Shale.

Like many other deep sea dwellers seeking to conserve energy, anglerfish are not particularly active and prefer to let their prey come to them. They have large mouths with very large teeth relative to their body size. They attract prey by a bioluminescent bulb, composed of luminous bacteria, that sits on a retractable lure, called an esca, on their heads. Some species of anglerfish can slide the esca back into a groove, allowing the lure and prey to move closer to its mouth. Depending on how it rotates the lure, anglerfish can make the lighted tip emit a flash or a glow. Their large jaws, thin bones and flexible skin make them able to eat prey twice their own size.

It is only the females that have the lure, however, making the males and females of this species look very different. In fact, females can be up to ten times larger than males.

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The long fin rays of fanfin anglerfish help them sense movement in the water. Photo courtesy of David Shale.

These ancient creatures are thought to have diversified genetically in a short evolutionary period in the early to mid-Cretaceous, 130-100 million years ago.

Black Dragonfish

The black dragonfish also lives deep in the ocean, between 5,000-7,000 feet. Like the vampire squid and anglerfish, it too is bioluminescent. The blackdragon fish has light-emitting organs along its body called photophores that it uses to confuse predators. It also has lights by each of its eyes that flash while looking for prey or trying to attract a mate.

Head of a Black Dragonfish collected on the NORFANZ expedition at a depth of approximately 1000 m, May 2003. Photo courtesy of Mark McGrouther.

Males and females look very different and are sexually dimorphic. Females are black with needle-like teeth, barbel, and pelvic fins with six stripes. Males are dark brown and have no teeth, barbel, or pelvic fins.

One unique trait of this fish is that it can produce light in the red/infrared range, and since infrared isn’t visible to most animals, the blackdragon fish has the distinct advantage of lighting its way with lights that most other animals can’t see. At the same time, it can produce light in the blue/green range of most other deep sea creatures. The blackdragonfish hunts by using the bioluminescent barbell on its chin to attract prey right into its waiting mouth.

Black Dragonfish BioluminescenceBlack Dragonfish Bioluminescence
The black dragonfish is covered in photophores, and when disturbed it lights up all over, even down to its fins. Image courtesy of T. Smoyer/Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institute.

Black dragonfish are found in subtropical and temperate waters of the southern hemisphere.

This has barely scratched the surface on the strange and mysterious creatures that dwell in the ocean. We know more about the surface of Mars than we do the deep sea, so just imagine how much there still is waiting to be discovered. The deep ocean is perhaps our last unexplored frontier here on Earth.

The shallowest depth that the ROV Deep Discoverer dives at is 250 meters, below the depth that severe storms have been measured to cause disturbances. Image courtesy of the NOAA Office of Ocean Exploration and Research, Deep Connections 2019.

Originally published by Christine Evans on Ocean First Institute’s blog in 2016. Reposted here by Christine with modifications.