With July comes the sweetest part of summer. Exams from the year before are far enough behind that they seem like a distant memory, and the next semester is still a good distance away so that you can pretend it doesn't exist. The skies get clearer and the sun gets hotter. Car windows roll down and sunglasses come out. With all of this celebration comes one desire that tops all of the others: to go swimming.
The heat may be a pleasant change from icy winters or muddy springs, but eventually it's too much for even the most cold blooded of creatures to deal with. The ultimate way to cool off, the one that people immediately turn to, is to get in some water, more specifically, go to the beach. Before you grab the towels and sunblock, however, you may want to know what creatures you're sharing this gigantic swimming pool with. Below are 5 of some of the creepiest creatures that lurk in the ocean-at least, the creatures that we know of so far.
1. The Blobfish
If you're ever feeling bad about your appearance, just Google these things. They look like Squidward from Spongebob got overheated and started melting. It may look disgusting, but the melty exterior is actually an adaption made so that the blobfish can survive in the deeper parts of the ocean where pressure is extremely high. The permanent scowl on the faces of these creatures shouldn't be intimidating-blobfish are harmless to humans-but not without reason. Scientists have little information about the species, but some believe it could be facing extinction. Not only this, but in 2013, they were voted the World's Ugliest Animal. That's more than a little reason to be pouting.
2. Vampire Squid
This creature is literally horrifying. Its scientific name, Vampyroteuthis infernalis, literally translates to "vampire squid from Hell." But no, they aren't from Hell. They're from Earth, in tropical and temperate oceans near you. Luckily these creatures only live in depths from 1,800-3,500 feet, otherwise there would be a lot of unhappy tourists. The scariest thing about these squids is that their eight tentacles are connected with a fin like structure that looks like a cape, making it seem like the squid is literally flying through the water. They are generally only six inches long, with eyes that are proportionately(and terrifyingly) huge and an incredibly strong jaw. Like most of the stuff in the deep blue, scientists don't know much about the hellish squid, including what they eat. Small humans, perhaps?
3. Polychaete Worms
It's lucky that these creatures live on the bottom of the ocean floor, because they look like the kind of nightmare that can burrow into your brain and kill you. The body of the tiny beast is pink, shiny, and reflects light as rainbows, which sounds nice. Too bad it has a face that's enough to give anyone nightmares. What's more, the worms are composed of many segments, each of which have bristles and hairs all around. Polychaete worms can turn their pharynx's inside out to rapidly grab smaller creatures and consume them. My advice is, stay away from the ocean floor. These things have survived five mass extinctions, one of which wiped out 96% of all marine species, avoiding this one. These devil worms aren't going anywhere anytime soon.
4. The Great Swallower Fish
Alone, this little guy looks like any regular deep sea fish-only slightly terrifying. With a full stomach though, it's clear where they get their name. this fish can swallow creatures up to twice it's length and ten times it's mass. Scientists aren't quite clear on how the fish manages to actually catch and eat its prey. A popular theory is that they use their sharp teeth to bite the head of their meal to prevent it from escaping,then leisurely take their time to swallow the fish whole. A giant, clear, sack like stomach holds the food as it slowly digests. Digestion is so slow, however, that sometimes the meal will start decomposing before it can even be digested. If this occurs, the decomposing fish releases lots of gas that make the swallower more buoyant, and can even result in it floating to the ocean surface. You have been warned.
5. Mola Mola
This is a breed of sunfish that resides in temperate and tropical oceans around the world, and can actually be seen sunbathing near the surface of the water, or allowing birds to peck parasites off their skin in a creepy form of mutualism. They are the heaviest bony fish on the planet; the average adult fish weighs around 2,200 pounds. The largest specimen can reach 14 feet tall, 10 feet wide, and can weigh nearly 5,000 pounds. Despite being so massive, their body is incredibly flat, making it look like a giant swimming head. Mola Mola have extremely odd adolescent lives as well. It all starts when a female Mola Mola produces an estimated 300 million eggs, more than any other vertebrate. Once these eggs hatch, they remain in a star shaped transparent covering that starts off extremely small, but then grows rapidly. In one aquarium, baby Mola Mola were recorded to gain 822 pounds in 15 months, which averages out to almost 2 pounds a day.
