Russian Fisherman Reveals Terrifying Deep Sea Creatures

Murmansk-based Roman Fedortsov has shed light on the strange world of the deep sea through a series of creepy images.

Human beings have only explored 0.05 per cent of the deep sea, but in the depths are genuinely alien creatures with saucer-like eyes, human-like teeth and eight legs.

Mr Fedortsov works on a trawler and fishes in what has been dubbed the “twilight zone”, a shallow ocean which opens onto the Arctic Ocean.

It is what is known as the Mesopelagic zone, an area between 60 to 3,300 feet (200 to 1,000 metres) below the surface.

Below this is the bathyal zone, an area of total darkness spanning 2,200 to 13,000 feet (1,000 to 4,000 metres).

Mr Fedortsov has revealed one of the most rarely seen fish, the bearded sea devil in a photo shared on Twitter.

He has also tweeted images of a frilled shark, which is often called a living “relic” due to its primitive features and a longhorn cowfish, with long horns that protrude from the front of its head as well as a cookiecutter shark, part of the “sleeper shark” family.

There are also photos of the chimaera, a fish commonly known as the “ghost shark”.

Chimaera are known for their winged fins and long, whip-like tails.

It also has green eyes which glow, but only when exposed to light.

In the depths of the ocean, ghost sharks appear to have sunken, 'dead' eyes.

Mr Fedortsov began sharing his remarkable finds in 2016.

But, some of his discoveries have left him stumped.

One photo showing an alien-like creature with a massive jaw and sharp teeth, the Russian trawler-man said: “We're still arguing about this one. What is it?”

Some people on Twitter suggested it could be a deep-sea dragonfish from the genus Malacosteus.

But not all catches are fish as one picture reveals an orange “sea spider”.

Sea spiders are marine arthropods with long, spindly legs that are roughly the size of a human hand.

These sea “spiders” are a type of primitive marine arthropod called pycnogonids and they grow to massive sizes in a phenomenon known as polar gigantism.

Deep-sea creatures can look even more alien if they live more deeply within the ocean.

This is because pressure can affect the appearance of some when they are brought to surface.

Thousands of feet below they are under extreme pressures and while some can withstand dramatic vertical migrations, the lower pressure of the world are known to cause metabolic problems.

Some even alter their shape and the effect can be seen in the case of the blobfish, a creature voted the world’s ugliest animal.