deep sea mysteries and oddities that will leave you baffled

The Macropinna is a fish with a very rare and little understood composition: its head is covered by a transparent, fluid filled dome. Beyond that, it has barrel shaped eyes which point up (through the dome) while its horizontal in the water and can be rotated forward if it changes position.

Firing out a beam of red light from beneath each eye, the bioluminescent dragonfish is the only animal that can see other dragonfishes red light. Thats the ultimate in unbreakable secret code.

On the Pacific Ring of Fire lies a lake a very special lake because its both underwater and made entirely of molten sulphur. Thirteen hundred feet (400m) below sea level, the area teems with life including crabs and shrimp specially designed for this bizarre condition.

But If you thought it couldnt get bigger than the giant squid, think again. Theres even less known about the colossal squid which has eyes bigger than your hand. It predominantly lives in the Antarctic and has 25 rotating hooks on the end of each tentacle.

A massive ocean creature, the giant squid has made a lot of noise in the media but relatively little is known about it. Measuring up to 43 feet (13m) long and weighing up to 1,000 pounds (450kgs), the first live giant squid was filmed in July 2012.

The closest comparison being an underwater tornado, whirlpools exist above some deep sea vents. In certain conditions, they can break away and swirl around like flying saucers, bringing heat, chemicals, and organisms across the ocean. Its like the winds uptake of a dandelions spores.

While researching marine life at the bottom of the very deep Suruga Bay, Japanese scientists put bait out to attract marine life. Something they werent expecting was a shark at least 30 feet (9m) long showing up to the party. Some say its the largest Pacific sleeper shark on record (a third larger than the next closest) but some say its proof the massive and prehistoric Megalodon still exists

Sometimes called a living fossil due to its primitive features, the frilled shark is a rarely seen animal which may trap its prey by crimping its body and leaping forward like a snake.

Only two of the eel species Leptocephalus giganteus were ever found, and both were larvae. The first (found off the South African coast) was six feet long and, extrapolated to adult size, could measure over 70 feet (21m) long.

Most people think of coral reefs as tropical installations, but weve recently discovered there are also cold water reefs (many of which are being destroyed by trawling vessels). Scientists are in the early stages of study, but they have found a reef off Norways coast covering 39 square miles (100 sq kms).