This article was co-authored by Audra Barrios and by wikiHow staff writer, Amy Bobinger, BA. Audra Barrios is a Marine Biologist and owner of Lick Your Eyeballs, a business offering experiences, reptiles, supplies and plants. With over 15 years of experience, Audra specializes in reptiles and exotic animals, environmental education, marine biology, conservation issues, and animal husbandry. Audra earned a BASc in Marine Biology from the University of California, Santa Cruz, and studied Natural Sciences at the College of Marin. She is the founder and Executive Director of Things That Creep, a non-profit dedicated to herptile conservation through education. She has spent the last nine years working as a biologist at the California Academy of Sciences.
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A day at the beach can be tons of fun, but do you ever stop to think about what’s lurking below the surface of the water? The ocean is home to some of the earth’s most horrifying creatures, ranging from tiny fish with eerie features to massive sharks, squids, jellyfish, and worms. We scoured the depths to find the world’s scariest sea creatures—we might not swim for a while after this one!
Top 5 Scariest Sea Creatures
- Goblin Shark: Its protruding mouth looks like something out of a horror movie.
- Black Dragonfish: The ultimate deep-sea nightmare.
- Great White Shark: The shark of Jaws strikes fear in us all.
- Australian Box Jellyfish: The most venomous sea creature.
- Stonefish: Stepping on this master of camouflage results in a dangerous sting.
Steps
Expert Q&A
Video
Tips
References
- ↑ https://www.montereybayaquarium.org/animals/animals-a-to-z/deep-sea-anglerfish
- ↑ https://oceanservice.noaa.gov/facts/box-jellyfish.html
- ↑ https://www.floridamuseum.ufl.edu/discover-fish/species-profiles/great-barracuda/
- ↑ https://marinesanctuary.org/blog/sea-wonder-barreleye/
- ↑ https://bie.ala.org.au/species/https://biodiversity.org.au/afd/taxa/714ea203-ea15-424c-a455-3c40d75f9e9a
- ↑ https://today.duke.edu/2020/07/ultra-black-skin-allows-some-fish-lurk-unseen
- ↑ https://www.iflscience.com/black-swallower-a-deep-sea-fish-that-gulps-prey-bigger-than-itself-73931
- ↑ https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/worlds-ugliest-animal-blobfish-6676336/
- ↑ https://ocean.si.edu/ocean-life/invertebrates/bobbit-worm
- ↑ https://myfwc.com/wildlifehabitats/profiles/saltwater/sharks/bull-shark/
- ↑ https://www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/fish/facts/bull-shark
- ↑ https://www.sharktrust.org/chimaera
- ↑ https://ocean.si.edu/ocean-life/sharks-rays/ghost-shark
- ↑ https://www.floridamuseum.ufl.edu/discover-fish/species-profiles/cookiecutter-shark/
- ↑ https://www.montereybayaquarium.org/animals/animals-a-to-z/fangtooth
- ↑ https://www.bbc.com/news/blogs-news-from-elsewhere-41928537
- ↑ https://ocean.si.edu/ocean-life/invertebrates/giant-squid
- ↑ https://oceana.org/marine-life/colossal-squid/
- ↑ https://kids.nationalgeographic.com/animals/fish/facts/goblin-shark
- ↑ https://www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/fish/facts/great-white-shark
- ↑ https://oceanconservancy.org/blog/2019/12/09/gulper-eels/
- ↑ https://www.mbari.org/animal/giant-sea-spider/
- ↑ https://ocean.si.edu/ocean-life/invertebrates/japanese-spider-crab
- ↑ https://www.montereybayaquarium.org/animals/animals-a-to-z/japanese-spider-crab
- ↑ https://oceanservice.noaa.gov/facts/portuguese-man-o-war.html
- ↑ https://www.britannica.com/animal/sea-snake
- ↑ https://oceana.org/marine-life/stonefish/
- ↑ https://oceanconservancy.org/blog/2020/01/22/stonefish/
- ↑ https://www.floridamuseum.ufl.edu/discover-fish/species-profiles/oarfish/
- ↑ https://oceanservice.noaa.gov/facts/sea-lamprey.html
- ↑ https://oceanconservancy.org/blog/2020/05/21/deep-sea-lizardfish/
- ↑ https://www.zmescience.com/science/news-science/meet-the-flying-spaghetti-monster-living-10000-feet-beneath-the-oceans-surface/
- ↑ https://www.montereybayaquarium.org/animals/animals-a-to-z/giant-isopod
- ↑ https://oceanexplorer.noaa.gov/okeanos/explorations/ex2107/features/bigfin-squid/bigfin-squid.html
- ↑ https://www.mbari.org/animal/pacific-viperfish/
- ↑ https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/researchers-dredge-faceless-fish-australia-180963510/
- ↑ https://www.scienceandthesea.org/articles/201801/faceless-fish-deep-deep-sea
- ↑ https://www.montereybayaquarium.org/animals/animals-a-to-z/slender-snipe-eel
- ↑ https://oceana.org/marine-life/megamouth-shark/
- ↑ https://oceana.org/marine-life/atlantic-wolffish/
- ↑ https://www.aquariumofpacific.org/onlinelearningcenter/species/sarcastic_fringehead
- ↑ https://www.montereybayaquarium.org/animals/animals-a-to-z/vampire-squid