Deep Sea
Surviving the bathypelagic abyss under freezing temperatures, complete absence of sunlight, and crushing hydrostatic pressure.
Atlantic Hagfish
The jawless North Atlantic scavenger whose slime glands unravel a coiled fiber bundle into a thread a hundred times longer in a fraction of a second.
Australasian Ghost Shark
The deep-sea chimaera described from New Zealand seamounts with glowing tapetum eyes and tooth-crushing plates.
Barreleye Fish
The deep-sea fish with a transparent, fluid-filled shield on its head and light-sensitive tubular eyes that rotate inside it.
Bigfin Squid
The deepest-dwelling squid on record, with elbow-bent arms trailing sticky filaments that may stretch up to 20 times its body length.
Blobfish
Nicknamed Mr Blobby by the scientists and crew of the research vessel Tangaroa after it was trawled from the Norfolk Ridge in 2003, and now held in the Australian Museum's collection.
Casper Octopus
The nearly translucent deep-sea octopod that nobody has named, because nobody has ever caught one.
Colossal Squid
The heaviest invertebrate documented, with tentacle hooks that swivel up to 720 degrees and eyes about the size of a soccer ball.
Dumbo Octopus
Ear-like flapping fins, webbed umbrella arms, and among the deepest-living of all known octopuses, some living as deep as 7,000 meters (23,000 feet).
Fangtooth
The bathypelagic hunter reported to have the largest teeth of any marine fish for its head size, fangs so long an adult cannot fully close its mouth.
Frilled Shark
A slow-swimming, six-gilled deep-sea shark whose lineage is estimated at 82 million years old and whose pregnancy may run three and a half years.
Giant Isopod
Deep-sea cousin of the pill bug, with about 3,500 lenses in each eye, that has been reported to survive eight weeks between meals in an aquarium.
Giant Squid
The longest cephalopod. The longest one scientifically verified measured 12 m.
Goblin Shark
A deep-sea shark with slingshot jaws and skin that looks pink because blood vessels show through it.
Gulper Eel (Pelican Eel)
A huge gape, a mouth that first unfolds and then inflates, and a glowing tail tip.
Humpback Anglerfish
The female wears a lure on her snout and can swallow a fish longer than herself.
Japanese Spider Crab
The Pacific's leggiest scavenger: a giant crab known to grow up to twelve feet across, picking over the seafloor off Japan.
Leatherback Sea Turtle
The only sea turtle with no hard shell, and big enough to keep its core warm in near-freezing seas.
Scaly-foot Snail
The hydrothermal vent gastropod whose foot scales and shell are often mineralised with iron sulfide, with a heart that takes up about 4% of its body volume.
Sperm Whale
Hunts on dives that routinely reach 610 meters, fires biosonar clicks up to 236 decibels underwater, and occasionally swallows giant and colossal squid.
Vampire Squid
Oxygen-poor twilight-zone living, pulsing blue arm tips, and an inside-out pineapple posture.