There Are Up to 100 Million Deep Sea Species — We'll Be Impressed If You Can Name 40!

By: Ian Fortey
Image: Rodrigo Friscione / Cultura / Getty Images

About This Quiz

The sun only penetrates to about 200 meters below the surface of the ocean and after that, you're on your own with some artificial lights and your own icy veins.  Relative to your average river or pond that seems pretty deep. But that's barely a splash in the pan for the ocean which gets down to about 11,000 meters at its deepest point. Do you know what lives down there?  Not a lot actually at that incredible depth.  But in the distance between where all light stops and the bottom, you're going to find an incredible array of creatures that range from bizarre to terrifying to rather baffling in their appearance.  Adapting to life in high pressure and total darkness makes for some very curious beasts.

Most of the things we've seen from the depths are shocking and a little bit scary, but that's also part of the reason they're so interesting. The fish you see normally are pretty plain and generally don't look like horror movie props at all.  But deep down where the average person can't get to holds a real fascination. It's like accessing an alien world here on Earth. If you think you know your creatures of the deep then you need to give our quiz a try. Forty creatures from the darkest depths. Can you name them all?

The Goblin Shark is considered to be the only member of an incredibly ancient line of sharks that dates back 125 million years. Not only are they weird to look at but they're also bizarre to watch when they eat as well. Their jaw actually extends out and grasps at food like a hand snatching it from the water.

Giant isopods can grow to a size of around 19 inches in length. They aren't fished in many places although they have found their way onto menus in some Asian countries. They're also kept as pets by some people so keep that in mind if you ever want a monster bug in your house.

The frilled shark looks like a leftover from prehistoric times and can be found anywhere from 120 meters down to about 1500 meters below the surface. Their nasty, little razor-sharp teeth are trident-shaped and backward-facing to ensure that if the shark bites something it won't get away.

You'll find the vampire squid at around 900 meters below the surface. Despite the name, they don't seem to do much bloodsucking; it's mostly the blood-red color that lends itself to the moniker as well as the hood-like web of flesh that links their tentacles.

The little bobber on the top of an anglerfish's head is a modified dorsal fin. Not all anglerfish produce light with it but some do have a bioluminescent organ that is used to attract prey like bait on a fishing pole. That's how they got the name "anglers."

The Big Red Jellyfish may not have the most clever name but it is accurate. It was discovered in 2003 and grows to a size of around 30 inches which, for a jellyfish, certainly is big. Unlike some jellies, its tentacles aren't for stinging but for grabbing food and pulling it in.

Giant Squid can grow to over 40 feet in length, making them one of the largest creatures on Earth. Photos of the squid didn't even exist until 2004, and it would be another eight years before one was caught on video. They're thought to prey on whales, and their tentacles are outfitted with some wicked spikes to dig into flesh.

The Gulper Eel gets its name from its impressive mouth which looks like some kind of old-timey steam shovel. Thanks to the size of its jaws it's actually able to eat fish that are larger than itself.

The oarfish effectively looks like a giant, living ribbon. There's a belief that oafish may be the source of stories about sea serpents, owing to the fact that they do beach themselves after storms sometimes, and, if they are ill, they will rise to the surface. A 30-foot-long snakelike fish might trick people into thinking it's a monster.

Down between 600 meters and 1,200 meters where a blobfish lives comfortably it looks a lot like a regular fish. Unfortunately they do incredibly poorly with changes in pressure since its gelatinous flesh is only slightly more dense than water.

The Coffinfish is capable of puffing itself up when threatened and is a member of the same species as the anglerfish though it obviously lacks the fun little dangler hanging in front of its face.

Living at depths down to 500 meters, the wolf fish is notable for its jaw full of crooked, mismatched looking teeth. It actually has a number of cone-shaped teeth in its mouth as well as molars for crushing and teeth down its throat as well.

The Chimaera is named for a mythological beast that was a mishmash of other creatures. It's also known as a rabbitfish, a ratfish and the much cooler name ghost shark. In a weird twist of biology, males have retractable sexual appendages in their foreheads.

The sea pig or scotoplane can be found at depths down to 5,000 meters. They're not exactly what you'd call gourmets since they survive by extracting organic particles out of the mud beneath them.

The Spiny Red Crab is also called the King Crab and it's one of the most fished crabs in the world. Down on the ocean floor, they eat smaller crabs or starfish but if times are tough they'll scavenge dead animals on the ocean's floor as well.

The Pacific Blackdragon is a long, eel-like fish found at depths as low as 1,000 meters. The fish is almost all black to help it hide from the prey that it ambushes but it also has a little light on its chin to lure in unsuspecting prey. You'd figure anything that deep would know to avoid lights by now.

Giant tube worms are one of the strangest life forms on Earth. They can live in the harshest parts of the ocean, next to vents that release heavy amounts of toxic hydrogen sulfide into the water They feed through a process called chemosynthesis where the bacteria that fill them produce all the nutrients they need to survive.

The snipe eel can occupy a crazy range of depth from 300 meters down to as deep as 4,000 meters. They are incredibly long and whip-like and though they can be around 6 feet long they may weigh only a pound at the same time.

The hagfish is just really unappealing to look at and, apparently, to handle. When defending itself the hagfish releases mucous from numerous glands that, when mixed with the water around it, will produce up to 20 liters of thick, suffocating slime.

The Fanfish Seadevil has a vast array of thin filaments that branch off of its body like hairs. These filaments are bioluminescent to attract prey to those massive jaws. Every one of these monsters you see in pictures is female as the males are remarkably tiny and have to bite into the female's underside and latch on to breed.

Lanternfish may not look all that remarkable but these little guys are rather surprising. Aside from their ability to produce light, hence their name, they also make up the bulk of all deep-sea biomass with some estimates saying that 65% of all deep-sea life is just lanternfish.

The hatchetfish gets its name from the body shape which resembles the head of a hatchet. There are freshwater versions of the fish that exist in much shallower water while the deep sea versions can be found down to 1,500 meters

Lancetfish are considered a bit of a nuisance animal and get caught up in commercial fishing for things like tuna. You can actually eat lancetfish and they're described as being sweet but there isn't really an industry for them.

The fangtooth is more mouth than anything else, which is oddly common for deep-sea fish. These are some of the deepest dwelling fish n the world and can be found all the way down to about 5,000 meters which is about 3 miles down.

This incredible creature has been recorded at depths of 7,000 meters which is inhospitable to almost every other life form in the ocean and is the deepest any octopus has ever been recorded at. They're usually about a foot long though some have been recorded at upwards of 5 feet.

The UFO jellyfish was filmed in the Mariana trench by researchers at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. UFO Jellyfish is actually just a colloquial description as the jellyfish was never officially named.

The snaggletooth fish is another in a long line of creatures that seems to have more teeth than anything else. It also sports a tiny chin barbel that produces light to lure in prey.

The barreleye is definitely one of the most unusual fish in the sea. Their name comes from the fact that their eyes are actually shaped like tubes or barrels and point straight up.

Grenadier fish are extremely common fish in the deeps probably due to the fact they reproduce like it's going out of style. A grenadier may lay up to 100,000 eggs at a time which is pretty remarkable.

Deepstaria Reticulum doesn't sound like an impressive name but this giant squid exists at a depth of around 5,000 meters. The bell portion of a jellyfish which is usually small and rounded is the massive, sheet-like portion of this jelly.

Sofa sharks can be found at depths of 1,400 meters. They have broad heads and round snouts along with very short dorsal fins unlike what you might expect from a shark. Essentially yeah, they do look like a sofa that can swim.

The Squidworm was found 2,800 meters below the surface and has 10 long appendages or tentacles on its head that are each longer than its actual body. It uses these appendages like fingers to pluck little bits of food out of the water for itself.

The Yeti Crab got its nickname thanks to the weird hair all over its long arms which made researchers think of the mythical yeti or abominable snowman. Aside from the unusual hair the crab also is thought to be completely blind since it doesn't seem to have any functioning eyes.

The megamouth shark can grow to lengths of around 18 feet and are rarely seen by humans. They eat by opening the massive mouth that gave them the name and lazily swimming along, pulling in plankton just like whales do.

The viperfish is one of the most famous deep sea creatures thanks to its stunning appearance. It looks like the skeleton of a fish from Hell complete with needle-like fish and a lower jaw on a hinge that lets it open incredibly wide to bite down on prey.

The massive pouch hanging below a black swallower is actually the fish's stomach. It's so large and able t expand to such a great size that the swallower can eat a fish twice its length and 10 times its mass. That's essentially the same as a human eating a car.

The Coelacanth was believed to have gone extinct literally millions of years ago and was only known through fossil records. In 1938 a living coelacanth was caught and now it's known there are a couple of species of the fish still living, even though they're extremely rare.

Sea Spiders are not true spiders but that probably doesn't matter if you have a fear of spiders or other multi-legged creatures. Their leg span can reach over two feet and when it comes time to eat, they stick their proboscis into prey to suck out the nutrients.

The firefly squid is one of the most incredible looking creatures in the world. While it normally looks like an average squid it can also activate photophores across its body to produce a remarkable pattern of blue lights.

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