Monkfish
The monkfish is not one of the deepest dwelling creatures, but it inhabits depths of around 1000 meters. They have incredibly wide mouths that are lined with rows of tiny, needle sharp teeth. Their wide set, bulbous eyes are also pretty creepy. Everything about this fish looks a little messed up!
Gulper eel
The gulper eel is dark in colour, lives at depths of around 3000 meters, and has one of the most horrifying mouths in the ocean. The name ‘gulper’ is also pretty accurate, considering how wide that mouth of theirs can stretch. It looks like a large pouch or bag, and gives the eel the really quite terrifying ability to swallow things larger than itself.
The black swallower
The name of the black swallower is enough to instill fear into the hearts of the brave. It is normally a creepy looking fish with razor sharp teeth and a slender body, but it has a special stretchy expanding stomach. This means it can eat things larger than its own body and can expand itself into the wide and horrifying creature pictured here until its food has decomposed enough to be digested.
Chimaera
The chimaera fish is named after the mythical creature which is a combination of several animals. This is because of the pattern on the chimaera’s skin that looks like stitch lines. It looks like a fish that has been stitched together from several different fish. A literal Frankenstein fish! Is that creepy or what? It is also referred to as the ghost shark due to its translucent appearance.
Stareater
The stareater resides around Oceania. Most of its body is dark, including its insides and its eyes which are black to take in any amount of light possible, since it lives in the dark depths of the ocean. You probably know of anglerfish who have their own light dangling in front of their faces to attract prey. The stareater has a red luminous bulb under its chin. That red light works the same way but feels a bit more ominous.
Giant isopod
You may know what an isopod is but if not, it is a crustacean that lives in the sea that looks a bit like a woodlouse. Take that image and now make it giant. There’s nothing remotely pleasant about that! They have four separate sets of jaws and creepy legs to scuttle around on. There have been reports of giant isopods up to 74cm long!
Pacific viperfish
If you have a mental image for the words ‘scary deep sea creature,’ odds are it looks a lot like the pacific viperfish. It is silvery and translucent with teeth almost as long as its whole head. Its eyes are milky white and it is practically blind. Even the viperfish’s teeth are clear as they curve up along its face. Thankfully they’re not as bad as some scary sea creatures, but look at that face and tell me you’re not terrified.
Atlantic wolffish
The Atlantic wolffish may not be the scariest thing out there but oh boy is it ugly! It has jagged and often crooked fang-like teeth poking out of its mouth. It does get scarier when you know this fish has three extra rows of serrated teeth behind these goofy looking fangs. The fact that they can be 1.5 meters long doesn’t ease the nerves either.
Goblin shark
Many sharks look pretty cool in how scary they are, but the goblin shark manages to look scary and goofy at the same time due to its bizarre proportions. It has a long narrow nose and an oddly placed jaw underneath that where it has rows of tiny semi-translucent and razor-sharp teeth. Its jaws are also extendable which means it can swallow some pretty large fish in just one gulp. The shark’s skin is also semi-transparent which means you can see parts of its insides!
Frilled shark
The frilled shark is often said to look like a living fossil because its features look incredibly primitive in comparison to some more evolved looking species. This creature has 25 rows of teeth which are trident shaped and face backwards rather than forwards. The sight of this deep sea monstrosity with its mouth wide open is absolutely bizarre and very off-putting!
