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.

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The Blobfish

One look at the rarely seen Blobfish would readily explain why the deep sea fish species is named as such, with the fish species bearing a blob-like form that makes it look like a creature from out of this world.

Found in the deep waters surrounding Tasmania and Australia, the Blobfish is one of the world’s deep sea fishes, currently at risk of extinction due to bottom trawling or deep sea fishing activities.

Known to be found in deep sea depths of up to 2,000 to 3,9000 feet, the most definitive characteristic of the Blobfish is in its gelatinous mass, one that bears a slightly less than water density which allows it to remain in deep undersea depths where the pressure is incredibly different.

Also, unlike other fishes, the Blobfish doesn’t have the same muscle mass found in other fish species. How it “swims” is quite unique without the relative presence of muscles, as it actually maximizes on its gelatinous body’s properties in effortlessly moving about in deep undersea pressures.

How it also eats is also unique, in the sense that the Blobfish simply swallows food in large gulps, with its diets typically consisting of deep sea invertebrates like crabs. As its name would somewhat imply, Blobfishes are known to just “lounge about” and let their food simply come before their mouths before they swallow them.

As pets, keeping a Blobfish pet is practically impossible, given the deep undersea pressures their physical forms require. That, plus issues related to their feeding and dietary needs would certainly cause a dent on their care and maintenance costs.

Being deep sea fishes, one would think they are safe from the fishing and trawling activities of human beings. Sadly, the fact remains that due to deep sea fishing and trawling activities in Australia, the Blobfish is greatly at risk of facing extinction.

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