MOST BIZARRE OF THE DEEP-SEA CREATURES DISCOVERED SO FAR Size Diet 130 feet Recreational Scuba Training (40 meters) Council depth limit 520 feet Megamouth shark (160 meters) Megachasma pelagios 17 feet (5.2 meters) Plankton and small fish Enormous mouth is surrounded by luminous photophores to attract prey 1,000 feet Giant spider crab (300 meters) Macrocheira kaempferi 12 feet (3.7 meters) Omnivore Adorns shell with sponges and other animals to blend with ocean floor 1,090 feet Ahmed Gabr (332 meters) World record for deepest dive in scuba gear 1,600 feet Atlantic wolffish (500 meters) Anarhichas lupus 5 feet (1.5 meters) Powerful jaws and extensive teeth Hard-shelled creatures allow it to crush the shells of prey Basket star 1,800 feet Gorgonocephalus eucnemis (550 meters) 5.5 inches (14 centimeters) (Tendrils can extend for meters) Zooplankton Sharp, tiny hooks on tendrils catch food floating by 2,000 feet Ocean sunfish (600 meters) Mola mola Heaviest known bony fish in 6 feet (1.8 meters) the world, between 545 and Sea jellies 2,205 pounds 2,300 feet (700 meters) Atmospheric Diving Unit (ADS) Depth an ADS is capable of diving safely Pacific hagfish 3,000 feet Pigbutt worm Eptatretus stoutii (914 meters) Chaetopterus pugaporcinus 25 inches (63 centimeters) ¾ inch (20 millimeters) Polychaete worms, invertebrates, Marine snow dead or dying fish (enter body and feed on viscera) Produce clouds of mucus to absorb marine snow and While eating prey, they draw it back into their mouths tie their tails into knots to generate torque and increase bite force. Predatory tunicate 3,280 feet Megalodicopia hians (1,000 meters) 5 inches (13 centimeters) Zooplankton Tunicates are capable of reproducing by themselves, producing both egg and sperm. Pacific blackdragon Giant oarfish Idiacanthus antrostomus Regalecus glesne 2 feet (60 centimeters) 36 feet (11 meters) Believed to be a harbinger of Ambush predator Zooplankton earthquakes in Japanese folklore Stomachs coated with black tissue to block out light produced by bioluminescent animals they consume 3,300 feet (1,000 meters) Huge colony of tiny biological 160 feet (50 meters) Giant siphonophore components called zooids, not a Praya dubia Gelatinous sea life, crustaceans single organism Blobfish Frilled shark Psychrolutes marcidus Chlamydoselachus anguineus 12 inches (30 centimeters) 6.6 feet (2 meters) Crustaceans Squid Blob-like appearance is the result Considered living fossils of decompression damage when due to similarities with brought to surface dinosaur-age ancestors 3,900 feet (1,200 meters) Gulper eel Eurypharynx pelecanoides 2.5 feet (75 centimeters) Flying spaghetti monster 4,000 feet Crustaceans Psychrolutes marcidus (1,220 meters) Stomach can stretch to accommodate large meals Unknown Carnivorous Colony of tiny biological components called zooids 4,265 feet Goblin shark (1,300 meters) Mitsukurina owstoni 13 feet (4 meters) Humpback anglerfish 5,000 feet Ambush predator of teleost fish Melanocetus johnsonii (1,500 meters) Elastic ligaments in jaw allow it to 7 inches (18 centimeters) catapult forward to catch prey Can expand jaw and stomach to consume much larger prey Males attach to females 5,280 feet Giant tube worm and degenerate over (1,609 meters) Riftia pachyptil time, used for nothing but sperm 7 feet 20 inches (2.4 meters) Sunlight, hydrogen sulfide, bacteria It is believed that they Fangtooth 6,500 feet continue to grow for Anoplogaster brachycera (2,000 meters) 170-250 years. 6.3 inches (16 centimeters) Zooplankton, squid Have the largest teeth proportionate to body size in the ocean; Triplewart seadevil Cryptopsaras couesii 12 inches (30 centimeters) 6,600 feet Carnivorous (2,000 meters) Tiny males attach to females and live as parasites 7,000 feet Giant isopod (2,100 meters) B. giganteus 14 inches (50 centimeters) Dead and slow-moving Colossal squid animals Mesonychoteuthis Can survive years without hamiltoni food 46 feet (14 meters) Antarctic toothfish Scars on sperm whale backs are believed to be caused by colossal 7,200 feet Yeti crab squid hooks. (2,200 meters) Kiwa hirsuta 5.9 inches (15 centimeters) Bacteria Hairy pincers contain filamentous bacteria used to detoxify poisonous minerals from hydrothermal vents 7,200 feet (2,200 meters) Pink see-through fantasia 8,200 feet Enypniastes eximia (2,500 meters) 1 foot (30 centimeters) Plankton and marine snow Expose skeletal hook-like structures when threatened Binocular fish to make them harder to Winteria telescopa eat 5.9 inches (15 centimeters) Zooplankton The only known vertebrate known to use a mirror in Black swallower its eyes to focus images Chiasmodon niger 9,000 feet (2,743 meters) 9.8 inches (25 centimeters) Bony fish Capable of swallowing prey twice its length and 10 times its mass 9,816 feet Cuvier’s beaked whale (2,992 meters) Ziphius cavirostris 23 feet (7 meters) Squid Deepest-diving mammal known; ribs can fold down to reduce air pockets and decrease buoyancy Vampire squid 10,000 feet Vampyroteuthis infernalis (3,000 meters) 1 foot (30 centimeters) Marine snow Proportionately largest eyes in the animal kingdom 13,100 feet (4,000 meters) Dumbo octopus Grimpoteuthis spp 1 foot (30 centimeters) Copepods (eaten whole) Deep-sea dragonfish 15,000 feet Large ears help them Grammatostomias flagellibarba (4,500 meters) with mobility 6 inches (15 centimeters) Fish, deep-sea invertebrates Attracts prey with red and blue light-producing organs called photophores 19,685 feet Hadal Zone (6,000 meters) This zone extends to the bottom of trenches — pitch black, below Benthic comb jelly freezing, and with incredible Abyssobenthic ctenophore pressure. 23,677 feet (7,217 meters) Mariana snailfish Pseudoliparis swirei 6 inches (15 centimeters) Unknown; it is believed that macroscopic 26,800 feet food sources do not exist in the deep-sea (8,178 meters) trenches. Discovered in 2002 11.3 inches (28.8 centimeters) Invertebrates Deepest-living known fish; 35,797 feet discovered in 2014 (10,911 meters) Trieste 50 feet (15.2 meters) First manned vessel to reach the bottom of the Challenger Deep (deepest known part of the ocean) Sources: nationalgeographic.com ocean.si.edu seasky.org.