12 Scariest Sea Monsters Still Alive Today

hi it's katrina from deep sea creatures with no face to fearsome predators of the deep here are 12 of the scariest sea monsters alive today number 12 bull shark named for their short blunt snouts bull sharks are found in coastal waters throughout the world typically living near highly populated coastlines because they like the same areas that we do we are more likely to encounter them than other species they are also known for being aggressive territorial and can survive for long periods in brackish and fresh water adults typically weigh between 200 and 500 pounds and males grow up to seven feet long while females can reach lengths of 11 feet or more some shark experts argue that due to their large size and predatory nature they are the world's most dangerous shark species bull sharks rank among the top three species most likely to attack humans along with white sharks and tiger sharks they often travel inland via rivers and tributaries and have even been spotted in the amazon and mississippi rivers two thousand miles from the sea these medium-sized sharks are fast agile and will eat virtually anything including dolphins and other sharks according to national geographic humans are rarely their prime target but bull sharks are known for their aggressive nature and their tendency to occasionally attack people out of curiosity between 1876 and 2001 bull sharks were involved in 69 recorded unprovoked attacks in murky water they can't really see what they're killing and probably aren't worried about it some bull sharks have killed people in the rivers and brackish waters in south africa and lake nicaragua some deaths initially thought to be caused by crocodiles in a swamp were later attributed to bull sharks but at first people thought it was impossible for sharks to be so far inland who expects a shark in a river number 11. box jellyfish there is nothing scarier than swimming around unable to see what's beneath you and feeling a searing pain out of the blue while you're in the water is never good box jellyfish are practically see-through so it's hard to see them coming and they rank among the world's most venomous creatures box jellies also called sea wasps and marine stingers are so named for their cube-like bells they dwell primarily in coastal waters off northern australia and in the indo-pacific region but currents can take them far the two best-known species which are commonly seen throughout north queensland during stinger season are the irukandji and big box jellyfish the latter of which is considered the world's deadliest some box jelly species have also been found off the coast of florida stings are rare but have serious consequences a box jelly's 15 deadly tentacles can grow up to 10 feet long with each containing around 5 000 stinging cells its stings are excruciating and can kill a person within two minutes by injecting a victim with what researchers refer to in a paper as the most explosive envenomation process that is presently known to humans the toxins in the creature's venom attack the heart nervous system and skin cells as a result some victims go into shock and drown or die from heart failure for those lucky enough to survive the pain can last for several weeks and they may end up with lifelong scars the creatures might not have big eyes and big teeth but they can cause a lot of damage all box jellyfish are venomous but only eight or nine species are considered extremely dangerous are you relieved still sounds like a lot to me also the larger specimens tend to have more venom these creatures are not passive drifters but are skilled navigators capable of moving faster than an olympic swimmer box jellyfish season lasts from november to july in australia it previously only lasted until may but they hang around longer now due to the changing temperature of the waters to avoid being stung swimmers are encouraged to remain in designated areas and or to wear a wetsuit number 10 deep sea lizard fish in 2017 a scientific research team accidentally pulled up a rarely seen bathysaurus ferox more commonly known as a deep sea lizard fish up from 6900 feet below the ocean surface near eastern australia this fish grows up to two feet long typically found at depths between three thousand and eight thousand feet it's the world's deepest dwelling super predator meaning it more or less eats anything it crosses paths with that it's capable of consuming including fellow members of its species equipped with razor sharp teeth and formidable jaws the deep sea lizard fish has an eel-like body which it burrows into the sea floor stationing itself while waiting for unsuspecting prey to pass by the moment its dinner is within reach the ambush predator lunges out from its hiding place and grabs it with its sharp teeth once something gets caught there is no escape to make up for the mating difficulties that come with living so deep underwater deep sea lizard fish are hermaphrodites with both male and female reproductive organs this bears them the time and energy of trying to find a partner of the opposite gender enabling specimens to mate with one another indiscriminately number nine southern sunfish the world's heaviest bony fish ever captured was a southern sunfish measuring 8.9 feet long and weighing 5070 pounds caught off the japanese coast in 1996 the previously unknown creature was originally misidentified as a better known sunfish species the mola mola it was finally formally identified as a new species in a december 2017 study published in the journal ichthyological research these fish look pretty strange with their odd flat shape and enormous size and they are usually covered in parasites as the heaviest fish in the sea sunfish have skeletons made of bone rather than cartilage unlike many ocean creatures such as rays and sharks southern sunfish have pancake shaped bodies that can grow over 10 feet long nature.org reports that molas are so large that when they collide with boats the boats sometimes come off as badly as the poor sunfish in 1998 the cement carrier mv goliath pulled into sydney harbour with a 1 400 kilogram mola impaled on its bow the fish was so large it dropped the ship's cruising speed from 14 to 11 knots and its rough skin stripped the ship's paint off down to the metal live specimens are difficult to transport for research purposes due to their size but dna testing is helping to make up for this in recent years genetic information has revealed to experts that there are more sunfish species than they previously thought took me about five times to say sunfish species properly the groundbreaking research turned up at least 30 different sunfish specimens that had been previously misidentified as members of the mola mola species it's possible or perhaps even likely that even larger southern sunfish exist than the world record title holding creature caught in 1996 number eight faceless fish after not being seen in over a hundred years scientists rediscovered a faceless deep sea fish in the waters of sydney australia in 2017. the creature was last spotted in 1873 when a british ship dredged one up near papua new guinea this thing is almost like a tortured soul from greek mythology it has no eyes and its mouth is situated at the bottom of its body so it really looks like it has no face at all it looks like two rear ends on a fish really said chief scientist dr tim o'hara the fish was just one of several strange creatures collected during a month-long expedition to survey marine life between central queensland and northern tasmania one-third of the several thousand specimens found during the voyage were completely new to science according to o'hara who named the faceless fish as the most spectacular among them as strange as it may seem for a creature to lack eyes however this isn't uncommon among deep sea fish who essentially have no use for eyes in the dark depths of the ocean the faceless fish has two spots on its head that slightly resemble eyes and may act as nostrils but as of yet scientists have a lot more to learn about it number 7. bucktooth ghost shark when the bucktoothed ghost shark was discovered in 2017 near south africa it became the 50th described ghost shark species it's the second largest such species ever discovered measuring around three feet long researchers classified the creature as belonging to the hydrolagus or water rabbit genus based on its bizarre rabbit-like buck teeth which resemble the teeth of the three other ghost shark species of the same genus it looks kind of like a dorky sea monster that could be your friend rather than one that wants to haunt you in your dreams the study describing the bucktooth ghost shark examined several specimens including several from museums and two that were accidentally caught as bycatch one of the fish had a crab claw in its stomach indicating that the species uses its large strong teeth to crunch open crab and other crustacean shells along the sea floor for years leading up to the study deep sea fishermen in the region had talked about a ghost shark that looked unlike any other known species the visibly distinct buck-toothed ghost shark is much larger and darker than its smaller brown cousin h africanus also called chimeras or ratfish ghost sharks are not actually sharks but are cartilaginous fish related to both sharks and rays scientists know very little about these deep dwelling creatures in general including their behavior and reproductive habits number six giant shipworm in april 2017 an international team of marine biologists published a study describing khufu's polythelemia the giant mud dwelling shipworm based on five live specimens collected in a shallow lagoon in the philippines the little observed by valve is huge reaching up to five feet long and 2.4 inches in diameter sailors have long despised shipworms with ancient records dating back to 412 bc complaining of the slimy mollusks destroying boats but k polythelemia was little studied until recently when scientists finally began learning about its habitat and biology the study produced some expected yet fascinating results according to lead co-author professor margot haygood who said we suspected the giant shipworm was radically different from other wood-eating shipworms finding the animal confirmed that most shipworms burrow into wood while the giant shipworm lives in the mud like other shipworms it acquires nourishment from bacteria but in a different way koofas polythelemia lives in a pretty stinky place the researchers said the organic rich mud around its habitat emits hydrogen sulfide a gas derived from sulfur like tiny chefs these bacteria use the hydrogen sulfide as energy to produce organic carbon that feeds the shipworm number 5. angler fish these fish can be extremely creepy especially when spotted emerging from the darkness there are over 200 anglerfish species that vary greatly in size with some of the larger species growing up to 3.3 feet long although most anglerfish are much smaller less than a foot they live along the dark inhospitable seafloor with most being found in the atlantic and arctic oceans up to a mile below the water's surface while some species prefer shallow tropical environments anglerfish have a reputation for quite possibly being the world's ugliest animal with large heads crescent-shaped mouths full of terrifyingly sharp and translucent teeth i mean you tell me anglerfish are named for a fishing pole like dorsal spine that hangs over their mouth a feature that only females have the rod lures prey close enough for the fish to snatch up and swallow prey up to twice their size male anglerfish lack this feature because they have no need for it as a permanent parasitic mate young males use their sharp teeth to attach themselves to a chosen female they physically fuse over time with the male connecting to the female's skin and bloodstream while all his internal organs except for his testes melt away it's normal for females to carry up to six males on their body it's difficult for males to find females to latch onto in the anglerfish's deep sea habitat and the species is also adapted to the scarcity of food near the seafloor with its needle-like teeth big mouths and expandable stomachs maximizing its ability to score dinner number four the goblin shark the goblin shark is a pinkish bottom dwelling fish that typically lives along continental shelves and is most often spotted off the japanese coast although it's rarely seen period it's named after its strange narrow snout called a rostrum and snaggly fang-like teeth giving it a resemblance to mythical goblins of japanese folklore and reaches up to 12 feet and 460 pounds the creature's teeth are visible even when its mouth is fully closed a distinction that applies to very few animals scientists know little about the odd species live specimens have rarely been seen or filmed and most of what experts know was gleaned from goblin sharks captured accidentally as bycatch they believe that it's a slow swimmer but an active predator and that it's most active in the morning and evening due to their sluggish pace it may be difficult for goblin sharks to chase their food but they make up for it with an extendable jaw which pops forward to catch prey that are nearly out of reach resembling something out of an extraterrestrial science fiction film number 3. vampire squid the vampire squid is named for its dark skin color and the cape-like skin connecting its arms like dracula it lives extremely deep in temperate and tropical oceans where its surroundings are almost completely dark while it kind of looks like a squid and an octopus it is actually neither it belongs to its own group the species has eight arms and two tentacles and uses the latter for collecting particles of plant and animal matter that fall to the depths from above despite this harmless feeding mechanism vampire squids look rather intimidating when threatened a disturbed specimen will invert its cape causing the spines lining the underside of its arms to show this defense method comes in handy for the creature which does not eject black ink like some squids and octopuses at the depths the vampire squid lives at darker black ink would be essentially useless in addition to flaring its cape the species produces a colorless bioluminescent liquid and its twinkling lights confuse potential predators like several other creatures i've told you about scientific knowledge of vampire squids is limited due to its deep-sea habitat as well as its rarity they do know that females store sperm for extremely lengthy time periods because mating encounters are scarce scientists are hoping to be able to observe them more to see what this spooky creature does in its free time number 2. stonefish with a reputation as the world's most venomous fish stonefish can administer enough poison to kill a human within an hour of being stung this is pretty terrifying considering how easy it is to accidentally step on one as it sits concealed on the sea floor the fish administers its venom through grooves and its dorsal fin spines native to the indo-pacific region these bottom-dwelling creatures are sluggish swimmers who live among rocky areas and coral reefs where their warty skin helps camouflage them among their surroundings as they sit motionless waiting for hours at a time for food to come along stonefish have very strong jaws and large mouths and when they snatch their prey they swallow them whole stonefish do not target humans or inject their venom in a predatory way they are just sitting there hiding so watch your step stings are incredibly painful and sometimes fatal the venom is capable of taking out some of the most formidable predators human sting victims can experience a host of symptoms including difficulty breathing nausea vomiting diarrhea low blood pressure bleeding delirium seizures and shock recovery can take between 24 and 48 hours with the amount of time depending on factors such as how much venom was injected and how soon the patient sought medical attention number one whales whales do not seem like terrible sea monsters but more like gentle giants however for hundreds of years people hunted whales practically to extinction and there are countless tales of whalers facing against evil monsters just look at moby dick here we have a monster scaring the daylights out of grown men sinking ships and terrorizing the sea this was based on a true story whales can get to be enormous and have had to battle against fearsome predators such as sharks and other prehistoric beasts who preyed on them so they have methods to defend themselves as history has shown us whales are large and powerful and when they are angered enough they will do what they can to survive humans have a violent history with whales with many species practically hunted into extinction for their blubber lance barrett leonard a senior scientist and head of the marine mammal research program at the vancouver aquarium said that regarding whale attacks the really good well-substantiated accounts of whales attacking ships date back to whaling days and there are a couple of classic attacks one of which is the attack on the ethics that inspired moby dick as whaling declined so did whale attacks and collisions luckily laws were passed to protect whales leading to a population increase in more recent decades while whales were once considered horrific sea monsters now we can appreciate their beauty and intelligence thanks for watching what sea creature was your favorite any other sea monster real or imaginary that you would like to learn about let me know in the comments below and be sure to subscribe if you are new here see you next time bye

Channel: Origins Explained

Views: 201,750

Rating: 4.7839098 out of 5

Keywords: origins explained, scariest sea monsters still alive today, scariest sea monsters, deep sea monsters, deep sea creatures, ocean creatures, scariest sea creatures, mysterious creatures, scary creatures, scariest creatures, sea creature, biggest sea creatures, biggest sea monsters, scarier than megalodon, prehistoric creatures, prehistoric sea creatures, prehistoric sea monsters, prehistoric creatures that are still around, largest sea monsters

Id: 5G8D0ynoEB8

Length: 17min 18sec (1038 seconds)

Published: Fri Oct 02 2020