It can be easy to forget that an alien world lives right beneath us – the mysterious ecosystem of the deep ocean of which we’ve explored less than 0.05 per cent.
Here, creatures of your nightmares lurk far below the surface and these creepy images could make you think twice before dipping your toes at the beach again.
The Twitter feed of Murmansk-based fisherman Roman Fedortsov has revealed a trove of terrifying catches, from eight-legged arthropods to fish with human-like teeth.
Mr Fedortsov fishes in the Barents Sea – a shallow sea that opens onto the Arctic Ocean.
These incredible creatures live in the ‘twilight zone’ of the ocean, writes Science Alert.
This is the area between 660 to 3,300 feet (200 to 1,000 metres) below the surface which is known as the Mesopelagic zone.
Below this is the zone of complete darkness called the bathyal zone, spanning 2,200 to 13,000 feet (1,000 to 4,000 metres).
Among the many creatures brought to light is the frilled shark – an elusive eel-like shark with rows of terrifying teeth.
The frilled shark is often called a living ‘relic’ due to its primitive features.
He also tweeted an image of a wolf fish and a bearded sea devil – one of the world’s most rarely seen fish.
He found a longhorn cowfish, recognisable by its long horns that protrude from the front of its head and a cookiecutter shark, which is part of the ‘sleeper shark’ family.
Another strange creature was identified as an Angler fish. An odd fleshy protrusion coming from the fish’s head acts as a lure for prey.
But, these glow only when exposed to light. In the darkness of the sea, ghost sharks appear to have sunken, ‘dead’ eyes.
Like sharks and rays, chimaeras have a skeleton made of cartilage.
While he may be better versed in deep sea creatures than most people, some catches had even Fedortsov stumped.
With one photo of a bizarre, alien-like creature with a massive jaw and sharp teeth, the fisherman wrote, ‘We’re still arguing about this one. What is it?’
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