Nature is something unpredictable. Throughout time, our planet has been populated by unusual creatures. Curious beings that, today, we would never have imagined existed. Many of them were in the aquatic environments.
Today, there are still many picturesque animals that coexist with us in our seas, rivers, oceans, etc. Picturesque-looking, strange behaviors, etc., and very little known, that's how they are.
Next, we will show you a list of species, specifically fish, that are found on our planet and that escape the common.
Chimeras
The Chimera belongs to the family of the cartilaginous fish, and is a very close relative to sharks.
Its natural habitat corresponds to the depths of the oceans, reaching up to 4000 meters. This circumstance has made these animals a real enigma for science, since they are very difficult to study.
Regarding their morphology, they have a prominent head and a long and narrow tail. Its appearance can resemble, safeguarding distances, that of a rat. This type of fish can reach up to a meter and a half in length, but it is not the common thing.
Its skin is covered by small scales that give it a brownish-gray color that can turn black. They do not have teeth, but plates that help them crush the shells of mollusks and crustaceans, which are the basis of their diet.
In their dorsal fin they have a poisonous spine that serves as a defense mechanism. They locate their prey through the capture of the weak magnetic fields that these emit, thanks to sensors that are in the head.
As a curiosity, it is the only vertebrate to show signs of a third pair of limbs.
Sunfish
The sunfish is one of the bony fish heaviest in the world, about a ton on average. Individuals have been found that reach 3 meters in length and 2000 kg. It is included within the family of the Tetraodontiforms, along with puffer fish, sea urchins and seatposts.
It lives mainly in tropical and temperate waters around the world. Its body is flattened, with dorsal and ventral fins. Interestingly, it is a fish as long as it is tall.
Their diet consists mainly of zooplankton, which they consume in enormous quantities. Females can lay up to 300 million eggs, a figure that cannot be reached by any other vertebrate that we currently know.
Sloane's Viperfish
Sloane's Viperfish is one of the most well-known and voracious predators of the deep seas and oceans.
It has a small size, around 25-30 centimeters. Its color is bluish, combined with silver and greenish tones.
Its main hallmark is its huge mouth, adorned with large fangs-like teeth that give it a diabolical appearance. Another of its characteristics is the long spine ending in a photophore (organ that emits light), which serves as a mechanism to attract prey. This photophore is not only typical of the spine, but also has others on both sides of its body.
We can find this type of fish in tropical and temperate waters, close to 3000 meters.
They are fish that, in freedom and in their natural environment, can reach 30 years of life.
Drop fish
The drop fish is typical of the deep and temperate waters of the coasts of Australia and Tasmania, in a range of 600 and 1200 meters.
It belongs to the family of scorpion fish. It has a length close to 30 cm. His body does not have a defined muscular structure, but rather looks, roughly, like a gelatinous mass with a density slightly less than that of water. This fact allows it to float and move without wasting energy.
The diet of this animal is very poor. It feeds on any edible matter that is suspended in water. Of course, it has a certain predilection for crustaceans.
Red-lipped batfish
The red-lipped batfish inhabit the waters of the Galapagos Islands, about 30 meters deep. It belongs to the genus of Ogcocephalus fish.
It is a small animal, about 40 cm. Its body is short and flattened, with knobby lumps all over its surface and ending in a large head. It is pale brown in color.
Indeed, its head is very peculiar, since it has a structure called illicium, which it uses to attract its prey. It mainly feeds on small fish and crustaceans. Also noteworthy is her red lips, hence her name.
Goblin fish
This type de peces They are distributed throughout the oceans Pacific, Atlantic and Indian. It is also known as "Transparent head fish". It lives in deep waters located at approximately 2000 meters.
It has a very small size, close to 5 centimeters. It is one of the so-called tubular fish. It highlights its transparent head and its beautiful eyes, which have a fairly large lens with which they capture a large amount of light and move peripherally.
They are not very active animals, but they swim calmly in search of possible prey (crustaceans) with which to feed.
Pacific ax fish
Ax fish are found in deep-sea and tropical waters of the Pacific, Atlantic and Indian Oceans, where the light is scarce.
This animal has a very small body, about 8 cm, in proportion to its head, thin and flattened on the sides, which gives it the appearance of an ax. He has very large tube-shaped eyes, with which he looks up all the time.
The color is usually bright green or purple. In the belly area it has bands that run through the body and are dark in color. Yellow predominates on the chest of this unique animal. Interestingly, their fins have no pigmentation, so they are genuinely transparent.
His appearance is apparently evil. However, this fish is very calm and harmless.
These are just some of the strangest creatures that inhabit the length and breadth of the different marine ecosystems on planet Earth. Creatures that are not frequent or easy to observe, yes, they contribute enormous wealth to our biodiversity.
But the thing does not end here, since in the different scientific explorations, many other unique animals have also been detected whose morphology, behavior, feeding habits, etc., do not leave anyone indifferent.
