Deep Sea Mysteries And Oddities That Will Leave You Baffled

1. 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. .....

Dragonfish

2. 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. .....

Sulphur Lake

3. 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. .....

Colossal Squid

4. 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. .....

Giant Squid

5. 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. .....

Underwater Whirlpools

6. 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. .....

Frilled Shark

8. 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. .....

Leptocephalus Giganteus

9. 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. .....

Gonatus Onyx

11. Using hooks under its arms, the Gonatus onyx squid holds onto its huge egg mass for many months at a time before they hatch. Talk about a helicopter parent! .....

Hydrothermal Vent Worms

12. Looking like long lipstick containers, hydrothermal vent worms have neither a mouth nor digestive system. They thus rely on a relationship with bacteria which use chemicals to make food the worms can absorb. .....

Battle Snail

13. Snails arent the first animal which come to mind when thinking about body armour, but a newly discovered (and so yet named) snail in the Indian Ocean uses iron compounds in the form of scales to protect its fleshy foot. The U.S. military is even researching the snail to improve its battle armour. .....

Bigfin Squid

14. Looking a bit like a boat rudder, the bigfin squid was first seen off the Hawaiian coast in the mid 2000s and has been scarcely photographed. Including its tentacles, it can reach lengths of up to 16 feet (5m) long. .....

Under(sea)ground Bacteria

15. You might think nothing can live beneath the sea floor, but scientists recently discovered bacteria living 1,000 feet (300m) feet below it. Found by drilling through sediment and crust, the bacteria was feeding off residue many millions of years old. .....

Disappearances

16. The aviation industry has experienced numerous unexplained sea disappearances since its founding. Most recently with the Malaysian Airlines MH370 jet, one of the most famous pioneers, Amelia Earhart, also disappeared mysteriously. She and co pilot Fred Noonan disappeared over the Pacific Ocean in 1937. Millions of dollars have been funneled?into finding out the planes?whereabouts with no success. Rumours include running out of gas and being kille .....

Sea Gooseberry

17. The year 1968 saw the still unexplained loss of submarines by four countries: the United States, Russia, Israel, and France. Some say the losses could have been government cover ups or (at least in the U.S. case) the nuclear tipped torpedoes misfiring into the vessel. .....

Lost Submarines

18. The bloop is another sound picked up by NOAA in the Pacific, but what makes it unique is it was detected at monitoring stations over 3,100 miles (5,000kms) apart. NOAA has now concluded it was ice breaking off a glacier, but some of its scientists still believe it could be a massive marine creature. .....

Bloop

19. The bloop is another sound picked up by NOAA in the Pacific, but what makes it unique is it was detected at monitoring stations over 3,100 miles (5,000kms) apart. NOAA has now concluded it was ice breaking off a glacier, but some of its scientists still believe it could be a massive marine creature. .....

Anglerfish

20. One of the more commonly referenced deep sea creatures, the anglerfish has an appendage coming out of its forehead with a light on the end. It uses this to lure prey in before devouring them with its over sized mouth. .....

The Baltic Anomaly

21. The Baltic Anomaly is a still unknown item in the Baltic Sea which some say could be a pre Ice Age artifact or Nazi anti submarine device. Oddly, divers electrical equipment stops functioning within 650 feet (200m) and a strong radio signal comes off from just near the item. .....

Vampire Squid

22. The vampire squid is a bizarre creature which produces some of its own light through glowing tentacle tips and spots on its sides. If disturbed, it can eject an ink which glows. .....

Upsweep

23. The NOAA listens to sounds from oceans all over the world. Most have been identified, but the sound known as upsweep remains elusive to understand. Upsweep is a few seconds of narrow band upsweeping sounds and is most active in Spring and Autumn. .....

Deepwater Photosynthesis

24. There may be no sunlight at the bottom of the ocean, but some bacteria near hydrothermal vents use the vents dim red glow to photosynthesize and produce food for themselves. Scientists are still trying to figure out how its all possible. .....

Giant Oarfish

25. Thought to be the reason for many alleged sea serpent sightings, the giant oarfish can reach up to 36 feet (11m) long thats bigger than a shipping container. Previously assumed to be quite rare, these mostly unknown creatures seem to be more common than once thought. .....