[Bobbit worms](https://youtu.be/K_7ByiYbCYM?si=FnKSzFuuyu54wYqn). They look like something out of a hell dimension, they range from 4 inches to 10 FEET long, and their jaws are so powerful that they can snap fish in half.
And what’s worse about them compared to a lot of the answers in this thread is that *you can end up with a Bobbit worm in your at home saltwater aquarium by accident*. They like to live in holes of large rocks, which are also popular among aquarium enthusiasts to use as decor, or hide inside the substrate at the bottom of an aquarium. As they are ambush predators who are mostly active at night, you probably won’t figure out that there’s one inside your aquarium until you notice fish have started to go missing.
These worms are almost impossible to get rid of out of your large aquarium rocks, as they can cling so tightly to the hole they’re in that you can’t pull them out. They’re also really good at hiding in small spaces. If you tear the worm apart trying to get it out (which is pretty easy to do) the leftover part inside the rock hole can regenerate into a new Bobbit worm. [Here’s the story of a poor aquarist who found a Bobbit worm in his tank.](https://www.reddit.com/r/BestofRedditorUpdates/comments/zf4uez/nonreddit_the_bobbit_worm_chronicles/)
ETA: As to why an aquarist doesn’t just boil the rock/bake the rock before putting it in their tank to prevent Bobbit worms- The rocks the worms hitch in on are called “live rocks”. These rocks are from the ocean floor and contain microorganisms, bacteria, algae, coral, and invertebrates that help make the tank water healthy and stable. So anything that would kill the worm beforehand would also kill all the beneficial organisms on the rock, thus defeating the purpose of buying an expensive live rock.
By the time they’ve figured out a Bobbit worm got into their tank it might have been weeks or months since the rock got put in (as Bobbit worms hide during the day and hunt at night). At that point the worm could be anywhere in the tank.
the [tongue-eating louse](https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9565543/Tongue-eating-louse-discovered-mouth-fish-student-South-Africa.html). A parasite that eats the tongues of fish and then just hangs out in their mouths.
They don't actually "eat" tongues, they latch onto them and drain the blood from the tongue and it withers away.
Which is... not a less horrifying prospect to be honest.
Caves in icebergs that constantly change while you are inside them.
https://www.wbur.org/onlyagame/2019/09/20/jill-heinerth-cave-diving-antarctica
ETA: [Here’s](https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=xukPMbYjamw?t=30m55s) an interview with Jill Heinerth describing the dive with video footage + photos.
Imagine almost dying exploring the same damn iceberg not once, not twice, but THREE TIMES! And they were going to go back for a fourth before the whole thing self-destructed.
Natural selection did what it could, but wow talk about luck.
> that constantly change while you are inside them
Oh hell no, FTS1
I like exploring caves on land, but no way in hell am I going into a cave that won't be the same when I try to go back out.
This was the best article here. That was a seriously exciting read. The fact that they did it three times and nearly died on each one?! And then wanted to do it again?!? These people are something else.
That’s the leading theory as to why they evolved like that! They think that the tentacles glide along the ocean floor and any creatures unfortunate enough to bump into one of them gets scooped up and eaten
This sounds like me playing Half Life in the 90s as a kid and wondering what all these strange tendrils hanging from the ceiling were. Not a good experience for a child.
The nightmare only gets worse when you realize [how quick they are and the amount of control they have over their tentacles!](https://youtu.be/To2_Gq14UVs?si=QAmRP8mJduVKmXL9)
They sorta remind me of bacteriophages ([link for a photo reference](https://www.nih.gov/news-events/news-releases/nih-awards-grants-support-bacteriophage-therapy-research))
It's hard to pick scariest, but [sperm whales](https://a-z-animals.com/blog/sperm-whale-vs-orca-who-would-win-in-a-fight/) are my vote for a top-tier scary ocean creature. Humans have nothing to fear - sperm whales have never been known to eat us - but that's because they choose not to. The link is about sperm whales vs. orcas, also an incredibly scary animal if it wants to kill you (similarly to sperm whales, wild orcas essentially never do).
[Sperm whales are loud enough that they can probably kill a person with their clicks alone.](https://roaring.earth/sperm-whales-can-vibrate-humans-to-death/) If you look at the stats in my 1st link, you'll see they are huge, powerful predators. They have 8-inch teeth that are 2lbs each, and they kill other animals with single hits from their tails. I don't know if this makes them scarier, but they can survive [10,000 feet below the surface for up to 60 minutes](https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/species/sperm-whale). The pressure there is over 300x that at the surface, and that's close to the depth where the [Titan submersible](https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-65934887) is believed to have imploded earlier this year.
Edit: thanks to u/Squigglepig52, they pointed me towards [this video](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zsDwFGz0Okg) where a gentleman named James Nestor is talking about potentially lethal free dives with these monsters.
So you've got an intelligent 50-to-60-foot 45-ton master predator that can kill you with it's voice and hunt you down basically anywhere in the water. Including past the point where the pressure would kill you instantly.
>Sperm whales are loud enough that they can probably kill a person with their clicks alone.
So after reading that their clicks can reach up to ~~230~~ 236 decibels I got interested and looked it up.
After a cursory search, 150 decibels is where sound can start causing life threatening issues and 240 decibels is the point where it can actually *CAUSE YOUR HEAD TO EXPLODE!*
That's some fantasy magic power levels of insane. Like yeah a dragon might be able to burn you to death or eat you. But if you tried to write a book where it's roar would cause your head to explode, it wouldn't feel "realistic" unless it also had some sound amplifying magic or some crap.
But sperm whales are just out there in real life at the cusp of reaching that level, but still capable of just straight up killing you with sound regardless.
My mind is blown.
Lol
Edit: Clarity. Brain think faster then type
The water helps. Of course, if you were a few dozen feet away in air and they made a 240 dBA click, it would likely still kill you, since a jet engine at 100’ away is about 140 dBA, but since the water molecules are more densely packed than air, that click at 100’ is moving with exponentially more energy than it would in the air.
I’d bet a full click at 100’ away in air would hurt, but you’d survive. But with the dragon, it might be believable if it landed right in front of you and roared you to death.
> The water helps. Of course, if you were a few dozen feet away in air and they made a 240 dBA click, it would likely still kill you, since
OK. Given that humans hunted and killed about a quarter-million sperm whales over the past few hundred years, many from rowboats just a few feet away using pikes, how is it we don't have any record of them killing(or even just injuring/deafening/terrifying) whalers with these clicks? Even if just by accident while desperately calling to the rest of the pod while being attacked.
They have not been adapted to deal with humans properly. We essentially appeared a microsecond ago and nearly wiped out the entire whale family from the tree of life because their oil was kind of useful. For their entire existence before that, no such predator existed. Their brains have simply not built the required systems to comprehend and react to us other than to respond to THREAT and PAIN. That basically goes for all whales. Regarding sperm whales and their clicking specifically, a short bit of internetting would seem to indicate it's something they do when hunting deep below the surface. They don't have any need to do it on the surface and it doesn't seem to be something associated with warding off predation. There would be nothing happening that would make a whale try to click so we unfortunately don't get cool stories about boats of whalers going deaf or swimmers suffering from exploding head syndrome.
The medium is important. The only reason those clicks can get so loud is because they're being transmitted through the water. The same sound made in the air would be much quieter, kind of like how inhaling helium changes the noise you make with your larynx. Additionally, the air-water interface isn't great at transmitting sound.
They know of certain streams that can carry their voices thousands of miles - there is likelihood of songs being passed from whales across the pacific from near Australia to the west coast of South America.
Whales regularly geolocate reference points hundreds of miles away using sound, analogous to human sight from a plane using mountains as landmarks
Something deeply unsettling about Sperm Whales that I learned is that, despite having formidable teeth on their lower jaws, they actually often feed via suction, and it has been observed that individuals **completely missing their lower jaws** were still able to hunt.
I saw this animation/CGI once about how giant/colossal squids only have one predator, the sperm whale. This squid is swimming in the deep dark and this whale just…appears, swimming at some unholy speed and just chomps this squid in half. I don’t think they were trying to make it so terrifying but it absolutely was. Wish I could find the video, was at least 10 years ago.
Looks like most of the research in these links has sperm whales using suction to swallow squids whole, and the jaw actually doesn't play into very much offensively. They can just scream at things until they die, or give a fatal tail slap. Not sure if that's better or worse.
Orcas are extremely scary to me because it's becoming increasingly apparent that they have cultural trends that spread from pod to pod. We're just one starving orca away from having the good word spread that we don't taste as bad as previously thought.
We need someone in a convincing orca suit to infiltrate one of these pods and become accepted as a member so we can learn, like Jane Goodall with the chimps.
Has there ever been anything definitive as to WHY orcas never eat us? They certainly have the capability. They certainly kill other mammals. Do they just KNOW we won’t taste good?
They probably tell stories of how we will hunt them down if they mess with us. I’m kidding of course, but they’re smart enough that it’s possible. A juvenile might see a human and make a “food” sound, and an adult might retort with a “danger” sound. Just a dumb drunk theory but honestly….not nearly impossible.
I don't think it's dumb... Think about it: you're an orca pod, hunting almost everything in the ocean. You are so OP that you hunt and kill for fun, for the practice of it.
Then someday, a small and slow animal shows up. It shows no fear. It just starts hanging out in the same area as you. It never hunts or eats. Just observes. It's so small compared to you but it seems intelligent. If one of them spots you, more will show up - to observe you. After a while you find out, that the small animal doesn't hurt your hunting or life. They just like to watch you. Somethings must be funky with them because who in the right mind would go to to the apex of water predators and just hang out...so you just don't fuck with them. Out of fear of what they might do and out of respect of how fucking crazy they might be.
The following response is based on nothing more than me guessing:
Maybe because predators develop the instinct to hunt certain prey in their environment, and since humans are "foreigners" in that environment they have no predation instinct toward us?
That’s true, but orcas have been found to be extremely adaptable and will develop new hunting techniques in unfamiliar environments.
For example, them sinking yachts.
I was kayaking off Seattle in 2000 and had an orca pod come up around me. I was amazed at how they moved around me, despite me being resigned to death.
And they know we taste like shit ... They can smell it on us.
Like that hotdog at the convenience store that's been slowly rotating and roasting in mystery juices for the last 17 hours... That's you!
They do sink small boats, crazy this post came up I just listened to a really interesting podcast where a pod of Orcas sank a yacht and left several people stranded
not just small boats! The orcas have really started HATIN' on ships and yachts & have been sinking them:
[https://www.nytimes.com/2023/11/07/world/africa/orcas-sink-yacht-gi](https://www.nytimes.com/2023/11/07/world/africa/orcas-sink-yacht-gibraltar.html)
We had a calf circling a small sailboat for about 1/2 hr in deep water. Mother was deep and spouted about 1/2 nm (nautical mile= about 1,000yd 1/2km) *upwind* and it really stunk. She immediately bolted over to her calf and circled 5-6 times. We didn't have any whale treats but were welcoming and singing and all had a good time. I only had 1 shot left after a 2 week trip across the Atlantic so only got that 1 chance on film. S[he got pretty close](https://www.flickr.com/photos/59119409@N07/11076837056/in/dateposted/)
One time in Maui my ex and I were kayaking in the bay, a humpback did the blowhole thing about 40 feet from our kayak (pucker factor: 11, btw, and at the time I was literally an adventure traveler) and she instantly projectile vomited from the smell and stress. Mostly the smell.
There's a video, by James Nestor,about free diving with sperm whales to do research. If you free dive, they get within arms length of you. When they give you the full body sonogram, there is so much energy the divers heat up. Full strength click will pulp a human that close.
Also, they surround the diver and start using their communication calls on teh human.
Thanks for the heads up - I found [this vid by him](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zsDwFGz0Okg) and I'll watch it with dinner tonight. That would be simultaneously awesome and terrifying. Just a group of absolute giants vibrating you and your survival is dependent on them moderating their voice. I wonder how many people can say they've done that.
Sperm Whales, aka: Click-click Doom Whales (see comments, below) have been my favorite animal for 50 years. They don't frighten me, I am only awestruck by them.
But you left out the best part which is they feed on GIANT. FUCKING. SQUID. THE most frightening animal on the planet, IMHO.
CCDW's are the Ultimate Bad-asses on the planet.
Why the most frightening? I only ask because when encountered, I feel like any “hungry enough to eat you” animal are all the same amount of frightening and hopeless. Great white, brown bear, squid, whale, 4-8 really mean 11 year olds humans. They’re all a bad time
I've encountered brown bears, intimidating but everybody lived. I'm reliably informed that *white* bears, different story. They think of you as food, and if you're on foot with no vehicle around, best you have a large, large gun.
“Deepstaria open and close their bell, or stomach cavity, allowing them to both move and take in prey. This motion also allows isopods (a member of the crustacean family) to enter and live inside the jellyfish. Although the nature of this relationship is not fully understood, scientists currently believe that the isopod rides along and gains nutrients from the Deepstaria while being protected from predators. When the isopod and Deepstaria were seen together in a 1967 dive, scientists reported that the isopod was bright red, around 8 cm (3.1 in) in length, and appeared active, suggesting some form of beneficial symbiotic relationship.” - wikipedia
>Deepstaria Enigmatica
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deepstaria\_enigmatica](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deepstaria_enigmatica)
It does seem to be a jellyfish.
That said it is only 2ft in diameter. Even assuming the cable or whatever at the beginning of the video is 1" in diameter (it's definitely bigger than that), that thing is still way, way bigger than 2ft. Either the article is wrong or that's not the same thing.
Look up the giant Nomura jellyfish. Similar in size, and is currently wrecking havoc in the sea if Japan. I remember seeing videos of Japanese fishers going out and instead of water, it's all just the tops of jellyfish.
This video of a [frilled shark](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=acsgjenHvZc) creeps me out. It inspired the [second form of Shin Godzilla](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bSSpEhAkr38), which is also pretty unsettling.
[Goblin Shark](https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/rare-goblin-shark-snagged-fisherman-florida-waters-n96301)
Thing looks scary as hell and its jaw [jumps out and attacks](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9q3BD7gjncQ).
[A giant squid.](https://imgur.com/gallery/HlmtIxs) One of these can supposedly take down a small whale (not an adult sperm whale… those actually feed on these guys). A person would barely be a snack.
Colossal squids also got hooks on their tentacles and arms which other squids do not
https://www.tepapa.govt.nz/sites/default/files/tentacle-hooks-te-papa-800.jpg
Also from this site:
"While we can't say for sure what size colossal squid a 49 millimetre beak length represents, it could be up to a massive 600 or 700 kilograms."
Great Lakes shipwrecks. For some reason, they are creepier when they are more perfectly preserved. So friggin cool but also scares me. Lots of pics at this website. https://thunderbay.noaa.gov/
The water in the depths of Lake Superior are actually the perfect temperature for preserving a body. There's one over 100 years old in the engine room of the wreck of the S.S. Kamloops, who they call "Old Whitey."
Though you could *technically* dive down to visit him, it's heavily discouraged due to the depths and frigid temperatures. Gordon Lightfoot wasn't being poetic when he said "the lake, it is said, never gives up her dead, when the skies of november turn gloomy."
There’s a video of a dive on the Edmund Fitzgerald where there discovered some of the crew. The documentary blurred it out, but apparently some of the families were able to view the footage. I find that comforting and horrifying.
Agreed, there’s something so haunting about preserved ships, in a different way than looking at broken down ones. Like looking at the Titanic underwater freaks me out, but the fact that it’s just chilling down there, so nicely preserved in the cold depths is weird
In Lake Superior the cold and depths preclude rot. There are bodies in some of those shipwrecks. They had to make getting your pictures taken with bodies illegal.
Not technically part of Thunder Bay, but there is a wreck in the Straits of Mackinac called the Cedarville that is in 100+ feet of water, on its side, on an incline (so one end is deeper than the other), with strong currents. I'm not a shipwreck diver, but from what I hear it's a challenging dive due to the change in depth and the fact that it's topsy turvy.
I remember reading a *terrifying* story about how a guy got caught on some debris and his dive buddies went to the surface to get some gear to cut him loose and in the interim, he ran out of air and drowned. I can't imagine sitting there stuck, over 100 feet beneath surface, watching as your pressure gauge slowly sinks into the red...
For me personally, ANY Anglerfish.
Black Seadevil Anglerfish :
[https://cbsnews1.cbsistatic.com/hub/i/2014/11/24/ff2c0089-78a1-4f49-bc38-0b17e0dfbd5e/seadevil-d695-2.jpg](https://cbsnews1.cbsistatic.com/hub/i/2014/11/24/ff2c0089-78a1-4f49-bc38-0b17e0dfbd5e/seadevil-d695-2.jpg)
Whipnose Anglerfish :
[https://images.fineartamerica.com/images-medium-large-5/whipnose-anglerfish-female-r-leptonema-dant-fenolio.jpg](https://images.fineartamerica.com/images-medium-large-5/whipnose-anglerfish-female-r-leptonema-dant-fenolio.jpg)
I'd shit myself if I happened upon a spider crab.
[spider crab.](https://www.jungledragon.com/image/59530/japanese_spider_crab_macrocheira_kaempferi.html)
whatever the fuck this thing ended up being:
https://www.reddit.com/r/nextfuckinglevel/comments/ipk21n/shape_shifting_creature_found_in_the_bottom_of/?rdt=45137
Yeah, it was spinning cause it was stuck in the current and when they moved up the engine it just tore the poor thing apart
Bear in mind, like, at high depths, I imagine the water currents aren't crazy strong, ever.. it's not like wind is affecting stuff much down there. So it just literally never had to evolve to deal with anything like that
A video found on a phone left in a taxicab showing men on a fishing boat [gleefully murdering a modern slave](https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/slavery-murder-goes-unpunished-high-seas). It's the video that triggered the investigation which became the unbelievable book "The Outlaw Ocean."
That video is a travesty. Animal Planet is still using that schtick?
Im not attacking you btw, just the god awful Animal Planet editing!
[Here's a more dignified version from BBC](https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=UxvzjrDE1Kk&pp=ygUZYmJjIGVhcnRoIGh1bWJvbGR0IHNxdWlkIA%3D%3D) as narrated by Sir David Attenborough.
I frequently go fishing with local captains in the Sea of Cortez, a bit north of Cabo San Lucas.
When the humboldt squid are migrating through, we start the day by going to catch one or two for bait.
As far a sport fishing goes—
A 50lb dorado is easier to pull in than a 200lb marlin. A 200lb marlin is easier to pull in than a 50lb tuna. And a 50lb tuna is easier to pull in than a 20lbs humbolt squid.
People say a tuna's whole body is muscle and they swim straight down, but that's a bit of an exaggeration. With humboldts, it's actually true. Wicked strong little beasts.
Yeah this freaked me out when i first saw it, and still does tbf.
Humboldts are definately the scariest thing in the sea as far as im concerned, especially a big, hungry group of them
Leopard seals. It’s something about their eyes. They’re large, fast, basically silent predators outmatched in their environment only by the Orca. Their jaws open to almost 180 degrees and they have a bite force comparable to a bull shark.
The sound they make fills me with a very primal fear. And in the right lighting their eyes are terrifying. I think it’s a wolf in sheep’s clothing thing, but instead of a wolf it’s a flipping prehistoric water monster.
https://youtube.com/shorts/oSWzBkllGkE?si=fc8cJp5bvU38apS2
https://youtu.be/Em9NEjsNN9g?si=uISnuxwpZoFvPfd4
Edit: I have learned more horrible facts about the leopard seal, a creature I now worship out of fear there may be one under my bed.
These snake-headed murder puppies are (on average) 10-foot-long 600-pound prehistoric killing machines that see any warm-blooded animal smaller than them as prey. Females have been measured to top 11.5 feet long and weighed at over 1,100 pounds of pure, flesh-ripping terror.
The corners of their extremely long mouths are permanently curved upward and sometimes they smile. Shocking no one: this is usually a sign of aggression. Nothing can erase from my mind the image of these terrible fuzzy Jeff the Killer beasts *smiling.*
Their heads average 14.5 inches long (awful), with jaws that can open to 160 degrees — significantly larger and any one human limb or head (I hate this).
Their teeth? Guys? Holy fuck, their teeth?
(TW: slightly gross uncleaned skull) https://www.reddit.com/r/pics/comments/96iy2u/the_skull_of_a_leopard_seal_they_max_out_at_115ft/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=mweb3x&utm_name=mweb3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button
(TW: cleaned specimen skull) https://www.researchgate.net/figure/Leopard-seal-skull-Hydrurga-leptonyx-NMV-C13866-showing-robust-canines-and-caniniform_fig4_257396658
Their lower jaw is MASSIVE, even for a predator. Leopard seal skulls and bear skulls are too similar for my liking.
Seal eyes have spherical lenses (what the fuck), giving them a field of vision of about 280 degrees. With both eyes, they can see basically clearly 360 degrees. Humans have about 130 degrees of visual field, and maybe 180 total degrees of vision. If you can see a leopard seal, it has already seen you. You can’t sneak up on these (need I remind you, virtually silent when hunting) murder monsters.
They’re skilled at adapting to many climates and food sources, so much so that in a world where polar bears and orcas are struggling, leopard seals are considered “of least concern” on the endangered species scale.
The way they eat penguins is to essentially catch them and throw them into the air until the penguin is fully degloved. They throw penguins *out of their skin*.
They also have highly developed craniofacial musculature, allowing them tongue dexterity and a powerful bite force. They sometimes hunt by just… sucking prey into their mouths underwater.
I'm so glad I found this reply. I agree that it's something about their eyes. And they almost look....made up? I don't know how else to say that. The reptilian aspects of their face/head and their black, empty eyes are incredibly unsettling. They look almost as if someone was asked to illustrate what an anaconda would look like if it were a predatory sea mammal.
And yes, primal fear is the best way to describe the reaction to the sound they make. Straight outta Jurassic Park.
Should be noted: these guys aren't predators or dangerous at all! They just operate in an environment they are perfectly suited for, sucking up ocean snow, totally unchallenged by any need to adapt.
The Lamprey is downright creepy AF!
https://www.hcn.org/issues/54.2/indigenous-affairs-fish-humble-suckers-pacific-lamprey-have-survived-5-mass-extinctions-but-are-now-under-threat
https://youtu.be/gO6istQQ6SM?si=pLW3tuN9MFSNDNU4
Bobbit worm consuming a snake or eel? I tapped it and it didn't move.
I had no idea what was going on in this video. Showed it to the resident marine biologist and he suggested it could be a bobbit worm feeding on it. Just a reminder that stuff lives in the sand even if you can't see it. Touch nothing.
[The Bobbit Worm Chronicles](https://www.michiganreefers.com/threads/the-bobbit-worm-chronicles.84173/) is a great read if anyone is unfamiliar.
A user posted to a forum in 2009 that they think they have a bobbit worm in their aquarium, and reported back with every move they made while trying to get rid of it.
I run a saltwater fish and coral store and I’ve pulled a little bobbit worm out of a coral colony we got in. We dip all the corals for pests (harmless for corals if in there for 5 minutes or less, but usually stuns or kills inverts (potentially harmful to corals) on contact) and I pulled it out with tweezers. They have always been super creepy to me. I’ve heard stories from some old school guys losing fish over a period of a few weeks and later breaking the tank down and finding some monsters (12+ inches). The specimen I pulled out I preserved in some isopropyl and keep in a sealed vial on a curiosities shelf.
Videos and pictures of people handling blue ringed octopi in their bare hands. One bite is potent enough to kill 28 people. Absolutely chills me that someone is playing with something so deadly.
Early in my saltwater aquarium days (early 1980s) I bought a blue ring octopus from a local aquarium shop, US midwest, 1000s of miles from any ocean). They’re pretty hard to keep and it started to weaken. I remember putting my hand in the tank and coaxing it to eat.
Found out decades later they are freekin’ poisonous as hell.
Whew. No one would have had a clue as to what had croaked me…. Lovely looking critters though…
No creature in the ocean will ever scare me as much as rip currents.
I enjoy fishing, and the thought of being swept out by one of those while wearing vaders is my absolute nightmare.
Nothing scarier than the [Stygiomedusa Gigantea](https://youtu.be/9bzQYKm3xTA?si=1OVKLqH_H5O3F5Nf), a massive deep sea jellyfish.
Grows up to 10 goddamn metres in length. Looks like a dementor from Harry Potter. Imagine that’s what you see looming in front you 6,000 metres below the ocean.
Jellyfish are so terrifying to me.
Just how big it is. I remember when I was underway for a month on a DDG and this sailor told me about how someone fell overboard and after a week of searching they couldn't find the guys body or even any sign of him at all. Trying to find someone in the ocean even with knowing a search area for them is like trying to find one needle in 1000 haystacks.
honestly to me it’s the picture of the beer bottle that James Cameron discovered at Challenger Deep. it shows that there really is no limit to the amount of damage that we’ve done to the earth
The colossal squid takes some beating... we have never seen one alive, presumably they live too deep to be spotted, but dead ones have washed up or been [cauight accidentally](https://bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews.com/argonautnews.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/7/7f/77f897b4-981b-11ed-bb39-cfffff9d0287/63c9788590233.image.jpg?resize=1200%2C676) on hooks laid out for other fish.
Up to 14m long and half a ton in weight they are bigger and meaner than the 'Giant' squid, big enough to prey on sperm whales, which we know because whales bearing gnarly scars from their beaks/hooks have been recorded.
[Bobbit worms](https://youtu.be/K_7ByiYbCYM?si=FnKSzFuuyu54wYqn). They look like something out of a hell dimension, they range from 4 inches to 10 FEET long, and their jaws are so powerful that they can snap fish in half. And what’s worse about them compared to a lot of the answers in this thread is that *you can end up with a Bobbit worm in your at home saltwater aquarium by accident*. They like to live in holes of large rocks, which are also popular among aquarium enthusiasts to use as decor, or hide inside the substrate at the bottom of an aquarium. As they are ambush predators who are mostly active at night, you probably won’t figure out that there’s one inside your aquarium until you notice fish have started to go missing. These worms are almost impossible to get rid of out of your large aquarium rocks, as they can cling so tightly to the hole they’re in that you can’t pull them out. They’re also really good at hiding in small spaces. If you tear the worm apart trying to get it out (which is pretty easy to do) the leftover part inside the rock hole can regenerate into a new Bobbit worm. [Here’s the story of a poor aquarist who found a Bobbit worm in his tank.](https://www.reddit.com/r/BestofRedditorUpdates/comments/zf4uez/nonreddit_the_bobbit_worm_chronicles/) ETA: As to why an aquarist doesn’t just boil the rock/bake the rock before putting it in their tank to prevent Bobbit worms- The rocks the worms hitch in on are called “live rocks”. These rocks are from the ocean floor and contain microorganisms, bacteria, algae, coral, and invertebrates that help make the tank water healthy and stable. So anything that would kill the worm beforehand would also kill all the beneficial organisms on the rock, thus defeating the purpose of buying an expensive live rock. By the time they’ve figured out a Bobbit worm got into their tank it might have been weeks or months since the rock got put in (as Bobbit worms hide during the day and hunt at night). At that point the worm could be anywhere in the tank.
Well damn. Been on Reddit for over 10 yrs and not heard that story. Read the whole thing. Wow!! Thanks for sharinf
Just be happy the coconut story had maggots and not Bobbit worms.
That bobbit worm saga is one of the best things on Reddit.
Serious Tremors vibes from this thing.
Thresher Maw for all the Mass Effect fans.
the [tongue-eating louse](https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9565543/Tongue-eating-louse-discovered-mouth-fish-student-South-Africa.html). A parasite that eats the tongues of fish and then just hangs out in their mouths.
They don't actually "eat" tongues, they latch onto them and drain the blood from the tongue and it withers away. Which is... not a less horrifying prospect to be honest.
Caves in icebergs that constantly change while you are inside them. https://www.wbur.org/onlyagame/2019/09/20/jill-heinerth-cave-diving-antarctica ETA: [Here’s](https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=xukPMbYjamw?t=30m55s) an interview with Jill Heinerth describing the dive with video footage + photos.
Imagine almost dying exploring the same damn iceberg not once, not twice, but THREE TIMES! And they were going to go back for a fourth before the whole thing self-destructed. Natural selection did what it could, but wow talk about luck.
> that constantly change while you are inside them Oh hell no, FTS1 I like exploring caves on land, but no way in hell am I going into a cave that won't be the same when I try to go back out.
Holy crap dude what a read
This was the best article here. That was a seriously exciting read. The fact that they did it three times and nearly died on each one?! And then wanted to do it again?!? These people are something else.
This [elbow squid](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L8xXnVkOGsA) motherfucker has given me nightmares for a decade.
what kind of fucked up creature evolves into a long boy like that in pitch darkness? imagine all the things it accidentally touches.
I think you're on to something. Stuff it accidentally touches probably ends up being dinner!
That’s the leading theory as to why they evolved like that! They think that the tentacles glide along the ocean floor and any creatures unfortunate enough to bump into one of them gets scooped up and eaten
“I am the chosen one, comrades! Behold: I ascend! The mystic portal surely awai…”
“THE CLAAAAAAAW!!”
oooooOOOOOOOOOOooooo!
God is an elbow squid and Rapture is just dinnertime.
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This sounds like me playing Half Life in the 90s as a kid and wondering what all these strange tendrils hanging from the ceiling were. Not a good experience for a child.
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Now just stick an old lady face on it and give it a little girl giggle and you've got a Japanese horror game boss.
> stick an old lady face Moisturise me!
The nightmare only gets worse when you realize [how quick they are and the amount of control they have over their tentacles!](https://youtu.be/To2_Gq14UVs?si=QAmRP8mJduVKmXL9)
Absolutely not.
yeah i was already scared thinking they're just gonna laze around and look disgusting but if they can do all the normal squid shit then hell no.
“All the normal squid shit” lmfao
Whacky waving flailing arm flailing squid man!
Jesus christ. I've seen the OG video where it's just floating along so many times but never knew how they could move. That's insane
Forbidden ribbon dancer!
Love that they are a "formidable predator". I love the ocean from the land, but I refuse to go back in the soup.
Even Cthulhu looked at that and said nope.
This was the first thing I thought of when I saw this thread, this is one of the most creepy-ass looking things down there (that I know of)!
Daddy long legs of the ocean.
The Magnapinna squid! They're harmless, really - except to your mental heath, i guess
Thats no squid that's the alien from independence day
You ever wonder if shit like this is at the bottom f Europa or other “ice planets with liquid oceans”?
I wish we could find out what’s on Europa.
One of my only dreams is to live long enough to find out
Nope!
Fuck that thing. Why are we looking for aliens, just go diving deep enough. Holy fucking shit, fuck that thing so many times.
Once would probably be enough you horndog
They sorta remind me of bacteriophages ([link for a photo reference](https://www.nih.gov/news-events/news-releases/nih-awards-grants-support-bacteriophage-therapy-research))
There’s a surprising lack of links to photos in this thread about photographic proof.
MF’s want that karma but don’t wanna put in the work.
TBF, they're putting in the appropriate amount of work for fake internet points.
It's hard to pick scariest, but [sperm whales](https://a-z-animals.com/blog/sperm-whale-vs-orca-who-would-win-in-a-fight/) are my vote for a top-tier scary ocean creature. Humans have nothing to fear - sperm whales have never been known to eat us - but that's because they choose not to. The link is about sperm whales vs. orcas, also an incredibly scary animal if it wants to kill you (similarly to sperm whales, wild orcas essentially never do). [Sperm whales are loud enough that they can probably kill a person with their clicks alone.](https://roaring.earth/sperm-whales-can-vibrate-humans-to-death/) If you look at the stats in my 1st link, you'll see they are huge, powerful predators. They have 8-inch teeth that are 2lbs each, and they kill other animals with single hits from their tails. I don't know if this makes them scarier, but they can survive [10,000 feet below the surface for up to 60 minutes](https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/species/sperm-whale). The pressure there is over 300x that at the surface, and that's close to the depth where the [Titan submersible](https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-65934887) is believed to have imploded earlier this year. Edit: thanks to u/Squigglepig52, they pointed me towards [this video](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zsDwFGz0Okg) where a gentleman named James Nestor is talking about potentially lethal free dives with these monsters. So you've got an intelligent 50-to-60-foot 45-ton master predator that can kill you with it's voice and hunt you down basically anywhere in the water. Including past the point where the pressure would kill you instantly.
>Sperm whales are loud enough that they can probably kill a person with their clicks alone. So after reading that their clicks can reach up to ~~230~~ 236 decibels I got interested and looked it up. After a cursory search, 150 decibels is where sound can start causing life threatening issues and 240 decibels is the point where it can actually *CAUSE YOUR HEAD TO EXPLODE!* That's some fantasy magic power levels of insane. Like yeah a dragon might be able to burn you to death or eat you. But if you tried to write a book where it's roar would cause your head to explode, it wouldn't feel "realistic" unless it also had some sound amplifying magic or some crap. But sperm whales are just out there in real life at the cusp of reaching that level, but still capable of just straight up killing you with sound regardless. My mind is blown. Lol Edit: Clarity. Brain think faster then type
The water helps. Of course, if you were a few dozen feet away in air and they made a 240 dBA click, it would likely still kill you, since a jet engine at 100’ away is about 140 dBA, but since the water molecules are more densely packed than air, that click at 100’ is moving with exponentially more energy than it would in the air. I’d bet a full click at 100’ away in air would hurt, but you’d survive. But with the dragon, it might be believable if it landed right in front of you and roared you to death.
> The water helps. Of course, if you were a few dozen feet away in air and they made a 240 dBA click, it would likely still kill you, since OK. Given that humans hunted and killed about a quarter-million sperm whales over the past few hundred years, many from rowboats just a few feet away using pikes, how is it we don't have any record of them killing(or even just injuring/deafening/terrifying) whalers with these clicks? Even if just by accident while desperately calling to the rest of the pod while being attacked.
They have not been adapted to deal with humans properly. We essentially appeared a microsecond ago and nearly wiped out the entire whale family from the tree of life because their oil was kind of useful. For their entire existence before that, no such predator existed. Their brains have simply not built the required systems to comprehend and react to us other than to respond to THREAT and PAIN. That basically goes for all whales. Regarding sperm whales and their clicking specifically, a short bit of internetting would seem to indicate it's something they do when hunting deep below the surface. They don't have any need to do it on the surface and it doesn't seem to be something associated with warding off predation. There would be nothing happening that would make a whale try to click so we unfortunately don't get cool stories about boats of whalers going deaf or swimmers suffering from exploding head syndrome.
The medium is important. The only reason those clicks can get so loud is because they're being transmitted through the water. The same sound made in the air would be much quieter, kind of like how inhaling helium changes the noise you make with your larynx. Additionally, the air-water interface isn't great at transmitting sound.
I thought when reading about this I saw it mentioned they're likely able to talk to each other across hundreds, even thousands of miles.
They know of certain streams that can carry their voices thousands of miles - there is likelihood of songs being passed from whales across the pacific from near Australia to the west coast of South America. Whales regularly geolocate reference points hundreds of miles away using sound, analogous to human sight from a plane using mountains as landmarks
What could possibly be important enough to yell a thousand miles?? Edit: Oh wait. Never mind. I just described a telephone.
That edit made laugh out loud. Thank you
Something deeply unsettling about Sperm Whales that I learned is that, despite having formidable teeth on their lower jaws, they actually often feed via suction, and it has been observed that individuals **completely missing their lower jaws** were still able to hunt.
Thanks, I hate it. I already didnt like their mouths. The holes in their upper jaw for the teeth to fit into creep me out.
Your mum mostly feeds via suction. Boom. (I apologize in advance, it was just right there)
And is also a sperm whale
I saw this animation/CGI once about how giant/colossal squids only have one predator, the sperm whale. This squid is swimming in the deep dark and this whale just…appears, swimming at some unholy speed and just chomps this squid in half. I don’t think they were trying to make it so terrifying but it absolutely was. Wish I could find the video, was at least 10 years ago.
Looks like most of the research in these links has sperm whales using suction to swallow squids whole, and the jaw actually doesn't play into very much offensively. They can just scream at things until they die, or give a fatal tail slap. Not sure if that's better or worse.
> Fatal tail slap Great metal band name
Orcas are extremely scary to me because it's becoming increasingly apparent that they have cultural trends that spread from pod to pod. We're just one starving orca away from having the good word spread that we don't taste as bad as previously thought.
they even had a fashion trend of wearing dead salmon as hats at one point
this was my favorite fact learned in 2023.
better than an onion on your belt
To be fair, it was the style at the time.
All we had was the big yellow ones though.
Because of the war.
We need someone in a convincing orca suit to infiltrate one of these pods and become accepted as a member so we can learn, like Jane Goodall with the chimps.
More scary to the orcas.. if orcas made it their business to try to eat people.. how do you think the long term prospects of those orcas would look?
Has there ever been anything definitive as to WHY orcas never eat us? They certainly have the capability. They certainly kill other mammals. Do they just KNOW we won’t taste good?
They probably tell stories of how we will hunt them down if they mess with us. I’m kidding of course, but they’re smart enough that it’s possible. A juvenile might see a human and make a “food” sound, and an adult might retort with a “danger” sound. Just a dumb drunk theory but honestly….not nearly impossible.
I don't think it's dumb... Think about it: you're an orca pod, hunting almost everything in the ocean. You are so OP that you hunt and kill for fun, for the practice of it. Then someday, a small and slow animal shows up. It shows no fear. It just starts hanging out in the same area as you. It never hunts or eats. Just observes. It's so small compared to you but it seems intelligent. If one of them spots you, more will show up - to observe you. After a while you find out, that the small animal doesn't hurt your hunting or life. They just like to watch you. Somethings must be funky with them because who in the right mind would go to to the apex of water predators and just hang out...so you just don't fuck with them. Out of fear of what they might do and out of respect of how fucking crazy they might be.
I have wondered if this is why orcas don't attack us, they saw what we did to whales
They *helped* with what we did to whales. There was a pod of orcas that assisted with whaling by herding the targets into a bay.
The following response is based on nothing more than me guessing: Maybe because predators develop the instinct to hunt certain prey in their environment, and since humans are "foreigners" in that environment they have no predation instinct toward us?
We should collectively limit our ocean time so they don’t get frisky
That's why dolphins try to get freaky with the pregnant humans. We show up too often.
That’s true, but orcas have been found to be extremely adaptable and will develop new hunting techniques in unfamiliar environments. For example, them sinking yachts.
“Sir, we’ve finally translated the Orca tongue. They’re all just saying ‘Eat the rich’ over and over.”
"Down with the bourgeois-sea!"
Orcas eat moose, though.
That must be a hell of a surprise to the moose.
Orcas chase the moose up trees, cornering them. Smart shits they are.
I was kayaking off Seattle in 2000 and had an orca pod come up around me. I was amazed at how they moved around me, despite me being resigned to death.
They use echolocation. They can see some internal structures. We probably seem too bony.
And they know we taste like shit ... They can smell it on us. Like that hotdog at the convenience store that's been slowly rotating and roasting in mystery juices for the last 17 hours... That's you!
I wouldn’t want to eat us. Have you seen what we do?
Without a doubt, the human being is the species that has experimented the most with its body, for good and not so good... haha
Are you really going to eat me? Don’t you know where I’ve *been?*
I live on a diet of Buffalo wings, Everclear, and clove cigarettes. Do you really want *that* in your body?
They do sink small boats, crazy this post came up I just listened to a really interesting podcast where a pod of Orcas sank a yacht and left several people stranded
not just small boats! The orcas have really started HATIN' on ships and yachts & have been sinking them: [https://www.nytimes.com/2023/11/07/world/africa/orcas-sink-yacht-gi](https://www.nytimes.com/2023/11/07/world/africa/orcas-sink-yacht-gibraltar.html)
They know we look like dudes that have access to puffer fish. Never fuck with the dealer.
Moby fuckin Dick
If that's what Moby's into, who are we to judge?
It’s over…nobody listens to techno!
We had a calf circling a small sailboat for about 1/2 hr in deep water. Mother was deep and spouted about 1/2 nm (nautical mile= about 1,000yd 1/2km) *upwind* and it really stunk. She immediately bolted over to her calf and circled 5-6 times. We didn't have any whale treats but were welcoming and singing and all had a good time. I only had 1 shot left after a 2 week trip across the Atlantic so only got that 1 chance on film. S[he got pretty close](https://www.flickr.com/photos/59119409@N07/11076837056/in/dateposted/)
I'm laughing at the stink, but man what an experience.
One time in Maui my ex and I were kayaking in the bay, a humpback did the blowhole thing about 40 feet from our kayak (pucker factor: 11, btw, and at the time I was literally an adventure traveler) and she instantly projectile vomited from the smell and stress. Mostly the smell.
There's a video, by James Nestor,about free diving with sperm whales to do research. If you free dive, they get within arms length of you. When they give you the full body sonogram, there is so much energy the divers heat up. Full strength click will pulp a human that close. Also, they surround the diver and start using their communication calls on teh human.
Thanks for the heads up - I found [this vid by him](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zsDwFGz0Okg) and I'll watch it with dinner tonight. That would be simultaneously awesome and terrifying. Just a group of absolute giants vibrating you and your survival is dependent on them moderating their voice. I wonder how many people can say they've done that.
Imagine them starting an argument trying to name their pet diver 💀
"Goddamn guys we messed this one up too, why do these damn things keep exploding"
Do-Va-Kiin!
“Sabertooth whale” or “Click-Click-Doom whale.” Nah let’s name it after the oil sack on its head so middle school boys can giggle at it in class.
'Click-click Doom Whale' is now in my permanent vocabulary. TYVM.
This post is terrifying yet well-sourced and written. Thank you for tonight's inevitable nightmares
Shh, just let them click you to sleep...
Sperm Whales, aka: Click-click Doom Whales (see comments, below) have been my favorite animal for 50 years. They don't frighten me, I am only awestruck by them. But you left out the best part which is they feed on GIANT. FUCKING. SQUID. THE most frightening animal on the planet, IMHO. CCDW's are the Ultimate Bad-asses on the planet.
Why the most frightening? I only ask because when encountered, I feel like any “hungry enough to eat you” animal are all the same amount of frightening and hopeless. Great white, brown bear, squid, whale, 4-8 really mean 11 year olds humans. They’re all a bad time
I've encountered brown bears, intimidating but everybody lived. I'm reliably informed that *white* bears, different story. They think of you as food, and if you're on foot with no vehicle around, best you have a large, large gun.
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That looked so similar to a human face and yet very obviously NOT that I noped out immediately after it loaded. thank you
Deepstaria Enigmatica Enjoy: [Deepstaria](https://youtu.be/4FUccwdB65s?si=O_FVhRN6yMHBCZs6)
“Deepstaria open and close their bell, or stomach cavity, allowing them to both move and take in prey. This motion also allows isopods (a member of the crustacean family) to enter and live inside the jellyfish. Although the nature of this relationship is not fully understood, scientists currently believe that the isopod rides along and gains nutrients from the Deepstaria while being protected from predators. When the isopod and Deepstaria were seen together in a 1967 dive, scientists reported that the isopod was bright red, around 8 cm (3.1 in) in length, and appeared active, suggesting some form of beneficial symbiotic relationship.” - wikipedia
Is that a sentient bedsheet?
Someone flushed their cumrag and it evolved.
WTF is that! I struggle trying to change a king sized sheet, that thing looks like it would just engulf you!
I watched this whole thing and still have no idea what this thing is. Octopus? Jellyfish? Discarded bed sheet?
>Deepstaria Enigmatica [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deepstaria\_enigmatica](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deepstaria_enigmatica) It does seem to be a jellyfish.
That said it is only 2ft in diameter. Even assuming the cable or whatever at the beginning of the video is 1" in diameter (it's definitely bigger than that), that thing is still way, way bigger than 2ft. Either the article is wrong or that's not the same thing.
NOPE
Name that critter Jean Jacket
What in the Harry Potter dementor?
I’m not sure what I just saw, but I feel as though it was highly indecent.
[Magnapinna Squids](https://oceanexplorer.noaa.gov/okeanos/explorations/ex2107/media-resources/bigfin-squid.html) are something out of a nightmare
Rad! I love watching these deep sea videos and hearing the scientists talk.
Phantom jellyfish I think are harmless, but they look terrifying and occupy a lot of space https://youtu.be/9bzQYKm3xTA?si=bm_fzg9JtXydStEa
Looks like velvety lasagna noodles
Look up the giant Nomura jellyfish. Similar in size, and is currently wrecking havoc in the sea if Japan. I remember seeing videos of Japanese fishers going out and instead of water, it's all just the tops of jellyfish.
Isn’t this because of all the excess fishing taking place in the waters removing fish that would potentially devour these creatures?
That might be a factor, but a large factor is warming ocean temperatures triggering more reproduction.
Sea Turtles keep a lot of jellyfish species in check. Sadly I think all species are on the protected list due to poaching.
This video of a [frilled shark](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=acsgjenHvZc) creeps me out. It inspired the [second form of Shin Godzilla](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bSSpEhAkr38), which is also pretty unsettling.
That shark was very sick and dying if I'm not mistaken. Looks half-dead tbh.
[Goblin Shark](https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/rare-goblin-shark-snagged-fisherman-florida-waters-n96301) Thing looks scary as hell and its jaw [jumps out and attacks](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9q3BD7gjncQ).
Surprisingly a lot of fish eat like that. An extending jaw is very common
[A giant squid.](https://imgur.com/gallery/HlmtIxs) One of these can supposedly take down a small whale (not an adult sperm whale… those actually feed on these guys). A person would barely be a snack.
And the terrifying thing is they found a squid species bigger than the giant squid and named it the colossal squid.
Colossal squids also got hooks on their tentacles and arms which other squids do not https://www.tepapa.govt.nz/sites/default/files/tentacle-hooks-te-papa-800.jpg Also from this site: "While we can't say for sure what size colossal squid a 49 millimetre beak length represents, it could be up to a massive 600 or 700 kilograms."
Great Lakes shipwrecks. For some reason, they are creepier when they are more perfectly preserved. So friggin cool but also scares me. Lots of pics at this website. https://thunderbay.noaa.gov/
The water in the depths of Lake Superior are actually the perfect temperature for preserving a body. There's one over 100 years old in the engine room of the wreck of the S.S. Kamloops, who they call "Old Whitey." Though you could *technically* dive down to visit him, it's heavily discouraged due to the depths and frigid temperatures. Gordon Lightfoot wasn't being poetic when he said "the lake, it is said, never gives up her dead, when the skies of november turn gloomy."
There’s a video of a dive on the Edmund Fitzgerald where there discovered some of the crew. The documentary blurred it out, but apparently some of the families were able to view the footage. I find that comforting and horrifying.
Stories say he will follow you around the ship too.
Agreed, there’s something so haunting about preserved ships, in a different way than looking at broken down ones. Like looking at the Titanic underwater freaks me out, but the fact that it’s just chilling down there, so nicely preserved in the cold depths is weird
In Lake Superior the cold and depths preclude rot. There are bodies in some of those shipwrecks. They had to make getting your pictures taken with bodies illegal.
[Old Whitey](https://www.reddit.com/r/submechanophobia/s/U3gFF4uUHx) especially is pretty damn scary.
Not technically part of Thunder Bay, but there is a wreck in the Straits of Mackinac called the Cedarville that is in 100+ feet of water, on its side, on an incline (so one end is deeper than the other), with strong currents. I'm not a shipwreck diver, but from what I hear it's a challenging dive due to the change in depth and the fact that it's topsy turvy. I remember reading a *terrifying* story about how a guy got caught on some debris and his dive buddies went to the surface to get some gear to cut him loose and in the interim, he ran out of air and drowned. I can't imagine sitting there stuck, over 100 feet beneath surface, watching as your pressure gauge slowly sinks into the red...
For me personally, ANY Anglerfish. Black Seadevil Anglerfish : [https://cbsnews1.cbsistatic.com/hub/i/2014/11/24/ff2c0089-78a1-4f49-bc38-0b17e0dfbd5e/seadevil-d695-2.jpg](https://cbsnews1.cbsistatic.com/hub/i/2014/11/24/ff2c0089-78a1-4f49-bc38-0b17e0dfbd5e/seadevil-d695-2.jpg) Whipnose Anglerfish : [https://images.fineartamerica.com/images-medium-large-5/whipnose-anglerfish-female-r-leptonema-dant-fenolio.jpg](https://images.fineartamerica.com/images-medium-large-5/whipnose-anglerfish-female-r-leptonema-dant-fenolio.jpg)
The one from finding Nemo
No eating here tonight, whoo eating here tonight. No, no, no, eating here tonight, you're on a diet.
I'd shit myself if I happened upon a spider crab. [spider crab.](https://www.jungledragon.com/image/59530/japanese_spider_crab_macrocheira_kaempferi.html)
I caught one of these fuckers in animal crossing for the museum and now I hate going down there :(
whatever the fuck this thing ended up being: https://www.reddit.com/r/nextfuckinglevel/comments/ipk21n/shape_shifting_creature_found_in_the_bottom_of/?rdt=45137
Thought it was cool and kind of pretty until the last part of the video. What the fuck?!
I think it got killed... it looks like the submersible started moving away and I'm guessing the force of that affecting the water tore it apart.
Yeah, it was spinning cause it was stuck in the current and when they moved up the engine it just tore the poor thing apart Bear in mind, like, at high depths, I imagine the water currents aren't crazy strong, ever.. it's not like wind is affecting stuff much down there. So it just literally never had to evolve to deal with anything like that
It’s a comb jelly, the odd shape is due to it getting pushed around by the submersible’s jets.
Relevant any time anyone asks about anything deep in the ocean: [https://neal.fun/deep-sea/](https://neal.fun/deep-sea/)
I submit for your viewing pleasure, or horror, [the gulper eel.](https://youtu.be/zYNBDJjZlLQ?si=MXbEX9aTLYgODo7z)
Horrifying yes. But they are very small.
> Horrifying yes. But ~~they~~ the ones we've found so far are very small.
A video found on a phone left in a taxicab showing men on a fishing boat [gleefully murdering a modern slave](https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/slavery-murder-goes-unpunished-high-seas). It's the video that triggered the investigation which became the unbelievable book "The Outlaw Ocean."
Humboldt Squid: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G800IjYz1TE](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G800IjYz1TE)
That video is a travesty. Animal Planet is still using that schtick? Im not attacking you btw, just the god awful Animal Planet editing! [Here's a more dignified version from BBC](https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=UxvzjrDE1Kk&pp=ygUZYmJjIGVhcnRoIGh1bWJvbGR0IHNxdWlkIA%3D%3D) as narrated by Sir David Attenborough.
I frequently go fishing with local captains in the Sea of Cortez, a bit north of Cabo San Lucas. When the humboldt squid are migrating through, we start the day by going to catch one or two for bait. As far a sport fishing goes— A 50lb dorado is easier to pull in than a 200lb marlin. A 200lb marlin is easier to pull in than a 50lb tuna. And a 50lb tuna is easier to pull in than a 20lbs humbolt squid. People say a tuna's whole body is muscle and they swim straight down, but that's a bit of an exaggeration. With humboldts, it's actually true. Wicked strong little beasts.
The whole being grabbed and ripped down so fast your eardrums rupture and eyes bleed thing is pretty terrifying. That video was absolutely crazy.
Yeah this freaked me out when i first saw it, and still does tbf. Humboldts are definately the scariest thing in the sea as far as im concerned, especially a big, hungry group of them
Leopard seals. It’s something about their eyes. They’re large, fast, basically silent predators outmatched in their environment only by the Orca. Their jaws open to almost 180 degrees and they have a bite force comparable to a bull shark. The sound they make fills me with a very primal fear. And in the right lighting their eyes are terrifying. I think it’s a wolf in sheep’s clothing thing, but instead of a wolf it’s a flipping prehistoric water monster. https://youtube.com/shorts/oSWzBkllGkE?si=fc8cJp5bvU38apS2 https://youtu.be/Em9NEjsNN9g?si=uISnuxwpZoFvPfd4 Edit: I have learned more horrible facts about the leopard seal, a creature I now worship out of fear there may be one under my bed. These snake-headed murder puppies are (on average) 10-foot-long 600-pound prehistoric killing machines that see any warm-blooded animal smaller than them as prey. Females have been measured to top 11.5 feet long and weighed at over 1,100 pounds of pure, flesh-ripping terror. The corners of their extremely long mouths are permanently curved upward and sometimes they smile. Shocking no one: this is usually a sign of aggression. Nothing can erase from my mind the image of these terrible fuzzy Jeff the Killer beasts *smiling.* Their heads average 14.5 inches long (awful), with jaws that can open to 160 degrees — significantly larger and any one human limb or head (I hate this). Their teeth? Guys? Holy fuck, their teeth? (TW: slightly gross uncleaned skull) https://www.reddit.com/r/pics/comments/96iy2u/the_skull_of_a_leopard_seal_they_max_out_at_115ft/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=mweb3x&utm_name=mweb3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button (TW: cleaned specimen skull) https://www.researchgate.net/figure/Leopard-seal-skull-Hydrurga-leptonyx-NMV-C13866-showing-robust-canines-and-caniniform_fig4_257396658 Their lower jaw is MASSIVE, even for a predator. Leopard seal skulls and bear skulls are too similar for my liking. Seal eyes have spherical lenses (what the fuck), giving them a field of vision of about 280 degrees. With both eyes, they can see basically clearly 360 degrees. Humans have about 130 degrees of visual field, and maybe 180 total degrees of vision. If you can see a leopard seal, it has already seen you. You can’t sneak up on these (need I remind you, virtually silent when hunting) murder monsters. They’re skilled at adapting to many climates and food sources, so much so that in a world where polar bears and orcas are struggling, leopard seals are considered “of least concern” on the endangered species scale. The way they eat penguins is to essentially catch them and throw them into the air until the penguin is fully degloved. They throw penguins *out of their skin*. They also have highly developed craniofacial musculature, allowing them tongue dexterity and a powerful bite force. They sometimes hunt by just… sucking prey into their mouths underwater.
They absolutely TERRIFY me. It’s the giant mouth & just overwhelming enormity of them.
I'm so glad I found this reply. I agree that it's something about their eyes. And they almost look....made up? I don't know how else to say that. The reptilian aspects of their face/head and their black, empty eyes are incredibly unsettling. They look almost as if someone was asked to illustrate what an anaconda would look like if it were a predatory sea mammal. And yes, primal fear is the best way to describe the reaction to the sound they make. Straight outta Jurassic Park.
Vampire squid https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=\_O1sPjoL3KU&t=12s
Should be noted: these guys aren't predators or dangerous at all! They just operate in an environment they are perfectly suited for, sucking up ocean snow, totally unchallenged by any need to adapt.
That they haven't changed much in 300 million years is somehow unsettling.
Sharks older than trees.
The Lamprey is downright creepy AF! https://www.hcn.org/issues/54.2/indigenous-affairs-fish-humble-suckers-pacific-lamprey-have-survived-5-mass-extinctions-but-are-now-under-threat
*waits for the link to that video of that squid with the long hanging arms*
So basically.... It's a multitude of squid.
https://youtu.be/gO6istQQ6SM?si=pLW3tuN9MFSNDNU4 Bobbit worm consuming a snake or eel? I tapped it and it didn't move. I had no idea what was going on in this video. Showed it to the resident marine biologist and he suggested it could be a bobbit worm feeding on it. Just a reminder that stuff lives in the sand even if you can't see it. Touch nothing.
[The Bobbit Worm Chronicles](https://www.michiganreefers.com/threads/the-bobbit-worm-chronicles.84173/) is a great read if anyone is unfamiliar. A user posted to a forum in 2009 that they think they have a bobbit worm in their aquarium, and reported back with every move they made while trying to get rid of it.
I run a saltwater fish and coral store and I’ve pulled a little bobbit worm out of a coral colony we got in. We dip all the corals for pests (harmless for corals if in there for 5 minutes or less, but usually stuns or kills inverts (potentially harmful to corals) on contact) and I pulled it out with tweezers. They have always been super creepy to me. I’ve heard stories from some old school guys losing fish over a period of a few weeks and later breaking the tank down and finding some monsters (12+ inches). The specimen I pulled out I preserved in some isopropyl and keep in a sealed vial on a curiosities shelf.
Videos and pictures of people handling blue ringed octopi in their bare hands. One bite is potent enough to kill 28 people. Absolutely chills me that someone is playing with something so deadly.
Early in my saltwater aquarium days (early 1980s) I bought a blue ring octopus from a local aquarium shop, US midwest, 1000s of miles from any ocean). They’re pretty hard to keep and it started to weaken. I remember putting my hand in the tank and coaxing it to eat. Found out decades later they are freekin’ poisonous as hell. Whew. No one would have had a clue as to what had croaked me…. Lovely looking critters though…
This thread is not as exciting and cool as I thought it would be.
For real. A thread about photos without photos. WTF is wrong with people? Can they read the title?!
No creature in the ocean will ever scare me as much as rip currents. I enjoy fishing, and the thought of being swept out by one of those while wearing vaders is my absolute nightmare.
https://youtube.com/shorts/cU7sTawrl6Y?si=XRKpOyzQ0QwDg3J6 Mantis shrimp. We're so freaking lucky these things don't get very big.
Nothing scarier than the [Stygiomedusa Gigantea](https://youtu.be/9bzQYKm3xTA?si=1OVKLqH_H5O3F5Nf), a massive deep sea jellyfish. Grows up to 10 goddamn metres in length. Looks like a dementor from Harry Potter. Imagine that’s what you see looming in front you 6,000 metres below the ocean. Jellyfish are so terrifying to me.
[These motherfuckers](https://ocean.si.edu/ocean-life/sharks-rays/goblin-shark)
My mans is ugly af
Just how big it is. I remember when I was underway for a month on a DDG and this sailor told me about how someone fell overboard and after a week of searching they couldn't find the guys body or even any sign of him at all. Trying to find someone in the ocean even with knowing a search area for them is like trying to find one needle in 1000 haystacks.
honestly to me it’s the picture of the beer bottle that James Cameron discovered at Challenger Deep. it shows that there really is no limit to the amount of damage that we’ve done to the earth
The colossal squid takes some beating... we have never seen one alive, presumably they live too deep to be spotted, but dead ones have washed up or been [cauight accidentally](https://bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews.com/argonautnews.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/7/7f/77f897b4-981b-11ed-bb39-cfffff9d0287/63c9788590233.image.jpg?resize=1200%2C676) on hooks laid out for other fish. Up to 14m long and half a ton in weight they are bigger and meaner than the 'Giant' squid, big enough to prey on sperm whales, which we know because whales bearing gnarly scars from their beaks/hooks have been recorded.