20 Sea Animals You May Not Know Exist

Nature is described as one of the extraordinary mysterious encounters mankind has ever experienced since the beginning of their existence.

Its beauty has been recognized as the most glamorous existences we experience every day which has best staked our lives as a beautiful gift.

Ranging from its creatures to the good experiences it has gifted mankind humans were able to study nature.

Professional scientists could be able to study nature and figured out its beauty ranging from the living factors found in it to the none living existence which has aided our lives’ buoyancy.

There are tremendous numbers of living beauty on earth that exist on lands, hills, and the seas. In this article, we would discuss the largest aspect of all living things termed the sea animals.

Sea divers were able to discover millions of sea creatures which has left all viewers and explorers in astonishment as they thrill at the beauty of nature. Sea divers also have convinced citizens and explorers that there are over 200 million mysterious creatures that reside in the sea which differ completely from the famous fishes and other popular creatures found in the sea.

In detail, we would discuss the beauty of nature via the biological aspect of mysterious sea animals.

20 Sea Animals You May Not Know Exist

Sea Pen

Just like its strange name, sea pens are colonial marine cnidarians belonging to the order Pennatulacea under phylum Animalia. They are termed the sea pens via how they appear vertically still like a pen.

Their unique feathers that thrust its beauty erupted from multiple polyps which are lined like feathers on their body surface.

Sea pens reproduce sexually by releasing eggs and sperms externally which fertilizes during their favourable condition. They also possess extraordinary features like Migrations, adaptations, predating and defence.

They feed on sea plankton and could stand to a height of 2cm in some species.

The most thrilling qualities they are characterised with is termed ‘bioluminescence’ this happens when they give out a sparkling green colour when touched by man. If a sea pen is attacked by a predator, it would force out water from its body rapidly deflating and retreating into its peduncle.

People sometimes find Sea Pens confusing following its structures and how it looks accurately like feathers and plants. They are likely animals in a colony.

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Angler fish

The anglerfish are bony fish that fell in the category of the teleost order Lophiiformes. As it’s referred to, it’s popularly known for its mode of Nutrition following how its modified luminescent fin ray attracts other fishes for predation.

It’s recognised as one of the strangest animals found in the deep ocean amidst how its luminescent fin ray attached to its esca is embossed with symbiotic bacteria.

Some live closer to the sea-land surface while some live below the sea making them pelagic and benthic.

They are sexually adapted to fertilization involving the male gamete fertilizing the female gametes. The female species are generally bigger than the male.

Their dental are lined symmetrically angler for easy predation which has best reshaped their status as one of the most dangerous in the deep sea.

All anglerfishes are carnivorous and would rip apart the body of their prey.

The strangest aspect of their qualities is their luminescent fin ray attached to its esca embossed with symbiotic bacteria. This fin sometimes described as esca serves as an attention to the opposite sex, their prey and their source of light beneath the sea dark surface. The bacteria also practice a symbiotic relationship with the fish via mutualism. They benefit from each other and survive from the service they portray on each other.

The males are however attached to the females because of their tiny size. They feed on the females and at the same time mates them via their qualities. However, they would lose their sight leaving only their tooth attached to the female for nutrition.

Their stomach is elastic and large making it possible for them to consume prey bigger than their shapes.

Angler fishes are also known for their hunting qualities which involves using some worms or tiny sea creatures attached to their esca to lure their prey to predation.

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Frilled Shark

The frilled shark which is also recognised as one of the strangest creatures fell in the family Chlamydoselachidae.

They are predators that hunt other smaller shark species as their prey. Their bony like structure and flexible body plays an important role in them while hunting. By using the dark-and-light contrast of white teeth and darkness, they lure their prey.

During reproduction, the grilled shark offsprings hatch inside the body of the mother and eat on the yolks of the hatched eggs until they grow a little bit bigger before being dispersed by the mother. However, they have no breeding period. They can reproduce at any time. They are aplacental viviparous animals, born of an egg, without a placenta to the mother shark.

The frilled shark is termed living fossils following the ancient features they possess via their image. Ranging from the bony structure to the light brown pigment they are characterised with Biologists have labelled them as a living fossil.

They also practice diel vertical migration which they portray for survival_ activities they portray for light, feeding and breeding process.

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Gulper Eel

The gulper eel is one of the strangest sea animals which is barely seen by man unless they are caught in a fishing net.

They are recognised as the only surviving animal in the family of Eurypharyngidae.

They are characterised by multiple strange features which has best tagged it fragile. They are so fragile that they got damaged if removed from the deep sea habitual pressure.

The most popular feature that has best described the beauty of their existence is their large mouth which is likely larger than their whole body.

They are embossed with tentacles below their tails which gives out pink light rays for the attraction of prey which has best made hunting easy for them.

When Eels are born, they are always seen as transparent independent tiny sea creatures that roam around the whole ocean. They do not contain any red blood cells but as they mature, the males undergo a change that causes enlargement of the olfactory organs which are responsible for the senses of smell and degeneration of the teeth and jaws. The females don’t change rather they develop their organs.

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Dumbo octopus

Dumbo octopuses which are sometimes described as Grimpoteuthis is also recognised as one of the sea animals that are strange by appearance and some qualities they have got.

The mollusc which can live up to 5-6 years have featured in thousands of Disney cartoon character due to the beauty of its appearance ranging from it fin-like ears that are attached to their head.

Females are the most distinctive among these creature varieties because of how they condone reproduction.

They carry multiple eggs of different stages of maturation which in turn means that they have no breeding period. The males are characterised by carrying encapsulated sperm packets on one of their arms to the females. When they mate, the females would store the sperms in them and wait for their favourite time to use them. When their eggs are due to hatch, they swim deep down the sea and waits for their hatching time. Once they are hatched, they would abandon them to live an independent life.

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Giant Squid

The giant Squid is recognised as one of the world sea strangest animals that belong to the family of Architeuthidae. Its giant incredible sizes have best described its beauty and are sometimes referred to as an example of deep-sea gigantism.

It grows to a level of 12-13cm in the species of the female while the make condones a growth of about 10cm making them one of the biggest sea creatures ever encountered by man.

Despite the beauty of their existence, scientists have outlined that they only exist in one species making it very difficult to discover in a sea ocean sometimes.

They are embossed with 2 long tentacles, a mantle and 8 arms. Each of their mantles and tentacles is structured with hundreds of subspherical suction cups, 2 to 5 cm (0.79 to 1.97 in) in diameter which is mounted on a stalk. Their circumference is also lined with sharp, finely serrated rings of chitin that assist them in easy feeding and sucking.

Their two long tentacles also help in attacking their predator Sperm Whale during their attacks. They would at all means scramble the head of the whale which would complicate the whale’s attempt of predation.

Giant squid breathes using two large gills inside the mantle cavity. They also have poisonous blue ink used against their predators. The Blue ink is disgusting via the status of its scent and appearance. This would deter their predators from eating them.

Referring to motion, Giant squids use organs called statocysts to sense their orientation and motion in water. Their age is often determined by their “growth rings” in the statocyst’s statolith.

They are recognised as the animal with the world largest eyes following the image of their two massive eyes.

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Halitrephes Massi Jellyfish

Halitrephes Massi Jellyfish is strange but is popularly known for its beauty and phenomena. The sea creature which is commonly known by many as the firework jellyfish belongs to the family of Halicreatidae.

According to their name, the deep-sea dweller is embossed with so many qualities attached to fireworks.

However, scientists couldn’t discover its beauty until several years of research in the deep sea. They came across its beauty via how it gave out enchanting fireworks in the deep sea creating enough reasons why the divers tagged it “The deep-sea firework Jellyfish”

The deep-sea divers could be able to discover that the Jellyfish would do anything possible to escape from dangers when disturbed.

It glows different rays of lights displaying a beauty termed the deep sea fireworks. It also reflects with the rays of any possible light flashed at it.

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The Spanish dancer

The Spanish dancer which is labelled biologically as Hexabranchus sanguineus is another strange deep-sea creature that fell to the family of Hexabranchidae.

The Spanish dancer name came from the defensive acts it portrays during his attempt to escape a predator or a disturbing condition. They would flag and crumple their body in different dimensions that would create a dance view.

They can grow up to a maximum length of 60 cm but is however termed one of the strangest deep-sea dwellers via how Its body colouration is generally orange-red speckled with multiple small white dots but it also can be uniformly bright red or yellow with red scattered spots.

The Spanish dancer also portrays strange temperament and qualities like hiding from the daylight and living their life during the night.

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Giant Spider Crab 

Japanese spider crab is also recognised as one of the strangest sea creatures that are barely seen by man. They belong to the family of Inachidae and are also recognised as the biggest arthropods via Phylum in Taxonomy.

Their leg span of Anthropology and many stages of growth thrust their strange size and existence. They undergo several stages of growth that aid their sizes.

In Japan, they are labelled as a delicacy but professionals in Zoology and Biology has thrived so hard and secured their existence urging people to practice Conservation efforts so as to avoid overfishing.

Their leg span has a long length of over 3.7 metres (12.1 ft) from claw to claw which has thrust their highest size. Their body often grows to a size of 40 centimetres (16 in) in carapace width and the whole crab can weigh up to 19 kilograms (42 lb). However, the female condones different growth_ they have shorter chelipeds which are shorter than the male pair of legs. They are nicknamed the “Tall leg crab” in Japan which in their language are referred to as (たかあしがに)

Just like the other sea creatures, Giant Spider Crab consoles highly recognised camouflage that has best describe their level of intelligence. Giant spider crabs condone mutualism with other sea animals, not with the profess for predation but to escape predation coming from strange creatures like the octopus.

This happens when they associate with other sea animals in a mutual relationship so as to secure their lives over predation from their predators.

They adorn its shell with sponges and other animals by following a specific routine behaviour. When a giant spider crab picks up some creatures like worms with its chelipeds for camouflage, its chelae would twist and tear off the organism from its habitat so to force the worms or sponges to start a new life on its shell. Once they are picked up, they will be brought to the crabs’ mouthparts to specifically orient and shape it before it is attached to the exoskeleton where the giant spider crab’s mechanical adhesion and secretions would attach them to its body providing a room for them to regenerate, and colonize on the crab’s shell.

During reproduction, a female giant spider crab lay up to 1.5 million eggs per season which are carried on their abdominal appendages after fertilization. They often carry the eggs until they are hatched which sometimes happens in a 10 days ratio.

They further undergo four stages of growth before they would emerge to adulthood.  There is no high level of parenthood in the giant spider crabs as their offsprings live independently once they are hatched.

The first stage termed the prezoeal stage happens in the last 15 minutes after moulting. It would venture into its second stage of growth labelled as a zoeal stage where they look very different than their parents at this stage, with small, transparent bodies. However, species like the Macrocheira Kaempferi undergoes two zoeal stages and a megalopa stage before it reaches adulthood. This stage is officially influenced by temperature in terms of survival and stage length. Scientists also were able to discover that the optimum rearing temperature for all larval stages is between 15 °C and 18 °C, with survival temperatures ranging from 11 °C to 20 °C.

This stage lasts from 7 to 18 days before they would venture into the third stage megalopa stage which will last from 25 to 45 days before emerging to the last stage that would emboss them with a strange size.

Giant spider crabs are omnivorous with their feeding qualities. They consume both plants and animals. They often sometimes consume dead sea animals and dig the seafloor for plants and algae.

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Blue Whale

As it is popularly known by many Blue Whale is the biggest animal to have ever existed in the history of mankind.

They are also recognised as one of the strangest sea animals human being has ever encountered following the mysterious sizes and weight they possess naturally.

The Blue whale is a marine mammalian animal that belongs to the baleen whale parvorder Mysticeti. They are confirmed to weigh over 199 tonnes and have a whopping length of 29.9 metres.

Blue whales live up 80-90 years formulating their lifespan to look just like a human life span. They have been a great discovery ever studied by humans following how they are engulfed with many mysteries.

However, their existence was nearly wiped out after an enormous number of Whale hunters hunted for their existence almost to the point of extinction in the 19th century. This thrust the government to ban any slightest attempt of Whale hunting by whale hunters that saved their existence but couldn’t rescue them from the complication they face in the early century which is pollution, noise and their natural killer known famously as a Killer Whale predation.

They often condone migration to avoid predation portrayed by the killer whales and to maintain their Thermoregulation.

Most of the Marine blue whales feed on euphausiids (krill) a simple sea animal that has best thrust their massive size via nutrition. During consumption, the Blue Whale at a high speed would accelerate towards a massive number of krill opening the mouth to about 80–90° and inverting the tongue, creating a large sac that allows them to engulf a large volume of krill-laden water. They would squeeze the water out through their baleen plates with pressure from the ventral pouch and tongue and then swallow the remaining krill making it a daily process for them.  Sometimes they accidentally swallow smaller fish while performing their Lung feeding.

Blue whales often reproduce when they reach 10 years old which is the ideal age of their sexual maturity. Their mating or breathing period is often not familiar to the world biological explorers but according to several types of research, a male Blue Whale would typically trail a female and is generally successful at repelling an intruder male after a short and vigorous battle. The female Blue whale gives birth in a 2 or 3 years ratio which has best limited their population.

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Vampire Squid

Vampire Squid that is also referred to as one of the strangest sea animals is a small cephalopod found throughout temperate and tropical oceans in extreme deep-sea conditions. They belong to Phylum Mollusca and the Family Vampyroteuthidae.

They are popularly known for the mysterious natural abilities that have best embossed their status strange.

Vampire squid condone Oxygen metabolism and uses its bioluminescent organs to produce light so as to survive the darkness and the lower oxygen concentration of the deep sea.

The Vampire Squid was discovered by a Zoologist identified as Carl Chun. Chun and his team during the Valdivia Expedition in1898–1899. This was as a result of the goal to experience the world of the deep sea lives and their collection for further studies also.

This strange deep-sea animal can reach a maximum total length of around 30 cm_1 ft. they feed on detritus_ marine snow is a continuous shower of mostly organic detritus falling from the upper layers of the water column. So far they live in the darkest part of the sea, they are very poor in the production of chromatophores_ cells that produce colour, of which many types are pigment-containing cells, or groups of cells, found in a wide range of animals including amphibians, fish, reptiles, crustaceans and cephalopods.

Like it was mentioned, Vampire squids possess some whopping abilities nature denied other animals. They are the only deep-sea animal that spends their entire life on the deep-sea surface where oxygen is termed to be supplied at 3%. However, vampire squid developed some intense adaption that has created buoyancy amidst their existence in their habitat. These adaptations are; their mass-specific metabolic rate is the lowest. Their blue blood’s hemocyanin binds and transports oxygen more efficiently, they maintain agility and buoyancy with little effort because of sophisticated statocysts despite that they have weak musculature.

When disturbed by a predator, the Vampire squid can attain the ability to curl its arms up outwards and wrap them around its body, turning itself inside-out in a way, exposing spiny projections. However, it may eject a sticky cloud of bioluminescent mucus containing innumerable orbs of blue light from the arm tips. This bioluminescent mucus would help dazzle its predator for about 10 minutes and issue an opportunity for the Vampire Squid to escape. The bioluminescent mucus can also stick to the body of its predator, exposing them to their secondary predator by creating a burglar alarm to their existence.

Vampire Squid uses its bioluminescent organs at the end of all of its arms to lure and attract prey. This happens when they produce light in the darker space of the sea. They are also regenerative which clearly means that they can lose their tentacles while being attacked by a predator. They will however lose it so as to distract their predator while they find safety.

Vampire squid condone different phases of development during reproduction. They condone three different morphological stages.

The very young ones have a single pair of fins, an intermediate phases has two pairs and then the mature ones have one.

At their earliest intermediate phases, a pair of fins is located near their eyes which would gradually disappear as the other pair develops when they grow. As they grow, their surface area to volume ratio drops, the fins are resized and repositioned to maximize gait efficiency.

The vampire squid condones slow reproduction following how they collide with reproducing through the means of small numbers of large eggs.

Their growth are also termed slow following how their are limited food supply in the depth of the sea labelled as their habitat. The females also have the ability to store the male hydraulically implanted spermatophore for a long period before she fertilize them when she is ready.

In the process, she may need to brood over them for about 400 days before they hatch. This reproductive strategy is referred to as the iteroparous type.

When hatched the younger Vampire squid will posses minor features like arms lacking webbing, smaller eyes, and velar filaments that are not fully formed.

They would spend most of their lives growing in the depth of the sea feeding on marine snow_ falling organic detritus. The adults however hunt for the bigger preys which are fish bones, other squid flesh, and gelatinous matter.

During mating, the male would fish bones, other squid flesh, and gelatinous matter. When she is ready to use the sperm stored, she would use the packet to reproduce by spawning the eggs in separate spawning events.

Vampire Squid can live up to 8 years. During feeding, vampire squid likely finds it complicated for they lack feeding tentacles. They use two retractile filaments to catch foods and pass it to their mouth. However, these filament are engrossed with sensors nerves that help them to detect prey and other wastes. They are consist of mucus that is secreted from suckers to form balls of food. They also purposefully agitate bioluminescent protists in the water as a method of luring larger preys.

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Stingray

Just like it is viewed, Stingray has been recognised as one of the deep seas strange creatures which have attracted the world explorers attention.

They are a group of sea rays that are cartilaginously related to sharks. They belong to the phylum Chordata and Order Myliobatiformes.

They are known for their highly modified dental that are regularly shed and replaced. The visible part of the teeth is large and flat making it easier to crush hard-shelled prey.

Male stingrays also display sexual dimorphism by developing cusps, or pointed ends, to some of their teeth.

During respiration, stingrays use their spiracles located just behind their eyes to breathe. It happens when they take in water using their mouth and then send the water through the gills for gaseous exchange. However, the mouth cannot be used while hunting because stingrays bury themselves in the ocean sediment and wait for their prey for predation.  In this period they use their spiracles only but it’s however termed complicated. They can draw water from the sea sediments to their gills for gaseous exchange.

During predation, Stingray would bury itself under the sea sediment and awaits its prey. This is possible because their eyes are located on the top of their heads. When they capture their prey, they won’t be able to see them but rather they use smell and electroreceptors to act accordingly.

During reproduction, the male Stingray relies on their ampullae of Lorenzini to sense certain electrical signals given off by mature females before potential copulation. It performs a strange courtship that involves following the female stingray closely, biting at her pectoral disc and then placing one of his two claspers into her valve.

Their mating period is described as one of the longest among all the sea animals following how they mate for seven months before the females ovulate in the match. The female also holds the embryo in her wombs without a placenta allowing it to feed on the yolk sac. When the sac vanishes, the mother would provide uterine milk to further feed it until the due time.

After birth, the offspring would independently swim away living a solo life. However, in other species, their offspring will swim along with the mother feeding with the safety of the mother until they grow to half of its size.

It was also believed that Stingrays can store sperm of the male after mating for about 8 months and uses it to reproduce whenever they want.

During locomotion, Stingray uses its pectoral fins to move by flapping them together. They however portray two kinds of locomotion which is known as undulatory and oscillatory. Stingrays that portray undulatory locomotion condone slower motile movements in benthic areas while stingrays that portray oscillatory locomotion appear to condone faster locomotion using Its Longer thinner pectoral fins in the pelagic zones.

Just like it was mentioned above, stingrays portray different types of feeding techniques as long their species are many. Some who have specialized jaws grabs their prey like molluscs and smashes their shell with their highly modified jaw while the species that dwell on the Benthic region which is termed seafloor are ambush hunters. They wait until their prey comes closer and then apply their tenting strategy. Tenting occurs when the pectoral fins are pressed against the substrate, the ray will raise its head, generating a suction force that pulls the prey underneath the body.

Stingrays also perform a strong camouflage by changing their colour to match with the sediment of the sea for easy predation.

On the other hand, most stingrays are dangerous and could jet out a dangerous weapon known as the stinger when disturbed.  This has impacted the life of a veteran zoologist, Steve Irwin who was killed by a stingray sting while he was performing his exploration.

In 2006, Steve Irwin was murdered by the stinger after the stinger penetrated his thoracic wall and pierced his heart, causing massive trauma and bleeding. This set an example for the other biologist to study and mark out its effect.

Different exploration showed that Stingrays are unsafe sea animals following the nature of their venoms. However, it is believed that they are yet to be studied due to the mixture of venomous tissue secretions cells and mucous membrane cell products that occurs upon secretion from the spinal blade.

During the penetration and secretion just while after a stingray has attacked its victim, the venom penetrates the epidermis and mixes with the mucus to release the venom on its victim which will confidently destroy the human cell leading to death. The toxins detected to be in the venom are cystatins, peroxiredoxin, and galectin.

It’s believed that galectin causes cell death while cystatins inhibit defence enzymes. In humans, they would increase the blood flow in the superficial capillaries and cause cell death.

Despite the nature of their super dangerous toxins, they would require potential energy to store their venoms. The venom is produced and stored in the vertebral column at the mid-distal region. They are used as food in Japan despite the nature of their venom.

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Jelly Fish 

Its strange existence has best described its name which is referred to as the sea jellies describing its beauty also.

Jellyfish certain gelatinous members of the subphylum Medusozoa, a major part of the phylum Cnidaria. They are mainly free-swimming marine animals with umbrella-shaped bells and tentacles. The bells can pulsate to provide fast stretching locomotion. The bells also contain stings and poisonous substances the Jellyfish uses to kill their prey when captured and defend themselves against predators.

Like the other sea creatures, Jellyfish condone several phases of the ‘life cycle’ which has best modified their nature as attractive creatures. The medusa is normally described as a sexual phase, which produces planula larva that disperses widely and enters a sedentary polyp phase before reaching sexual maturity.

According to studies, Jellyfish have existed for 700 million years making it the world oldest animal to have existed in the world. The medusae of most species condone fast growth. They mature within 8 months, live a short live life span, reproduce and die off via their nature. The polyp stage is termed the long-lived species.

They also condone perfect bioluminescence_ the production and emission of light by a living organism. This is referred to as the of their fireworks under the view of the ocean. Most Jellyfish species show off different types of fireworks while swimming. This also attracts preys to its benefit.

They are referred to as a delicacy in some Asian countries but despite their taste attraction to the Jellyfish, their bell is very dangerous to human life following the nature of their venoms.

Referring to their Anatomy, Jellyfish are wildly known for their umbrella-shaped bell. This hollow consisting of a mass of transparent jelly-like matter known as mesoglea, which forms the hydrostatic skeleton are what is termed their umbrella-shaped nature.

The mesoglea mainly consists of water, collagen and other fibrous proteins, as well as wandering amoebocytes which can engulf debris and bacteria. In the gap between the lappets are dangling rudimentary sense organs known as rhopalia, and the margin of the bell often bears tentacles.

Most jellyfish has no specialised nervous system or systems specialised for osmoregulation, respiration and circulation. They often have Nematocysts, which deliver the sting, are located mostly on the tentacles. Other true jellyfish have their nematocysts around their eyes and mouth.

Jellyfish also need no respiratory system because sufficient oxygen diffuses through the epidermis. Their rhopalia contain rudimentary sense organs that can detect an odour, orientation and water-born vibration. Sets of nerve cells called a nerve net that serves as their nervous system are found in their epidermis. Jellyfish can detect stimuli and transmits impulses throughout the nerve nets and around the circular nerve ring and to the other cells. This has made it extraordinary via nature.

However, in many species, the ocelli do the work of the rhopalia which serves as a nerve that detects light in the dark. Many jellyfish look upward at their mangrove canopy while giving rise to a daily migration from mangrove swamps into the open lagoon, where they feed, and then swim back again.

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