6 amazing creatures that seem to have arrived from another planet

1. Yeti crab

Kiwa hirsuta

This interesting crustacean, about 15 cm long, lives in hydrothermal vents near Antarctica. There, at a depth of two kilometers in the Pacific Ocean, the water is hot (380 ° C) and toxic: there is too much sulfur. But the crab is fine.

The long hair on his paws is a real garden in which dwellsA. R. Thurber. Dancing for Food in the Deep Sea: Bacterial Farming by a New Species of Yeti Crab / PLOS One a whole ecosystem of many different bacteria. Some serve the crab as food, while others help filter out poisonous substances, making the environment around their host tolerable.

2. Tahitian Warty Clownfish

Antennarius striatus

A fish belonging to the order of anglerfish, which are sometimes also capaciously called monkfish. This species is also called hairy frogfish. Its representatives reachAntennarius striatus, Striated frogfish / Aquarium 25 cm long and covered with long dermal spines resembling wool.

These predators preferT, W. Pietsch, D. b. Grobecker. Frogfishes of the World: Systematics, Zoogeography, and Behavioral Ecology not to swim, but to walk along the bottom on their powerful fins. When the hairy frog is hungry, it sets up an ambush and waits until some prey swims by. Then she puffs out her cheeks, sucking in water like a vacuum cleaner, and the prey itself flies into her mouth.

Mechanism protection the frog fish is also peculiar. At the sight of the enemy, it swells so that it becomes physically impossible to swallow - it gets stuck in the throat.

3. blue dragon

Glaucus atlanticus

gastropod usesT. E. Thompson. Observations on a collection of Glaucus from the Gulf of Aden with a critical review of published records of Glaucidae (Gastropoda, Opisthobranchia) / Oxford Academic the effect of surface tension to crawl on the surface of the waters of the Indian and Pacific oceans. That is, he literally walks through the liquid like a messiah. Only he does it not from above, but from below, skillfully using his outgrowths throughout his body to increase buoyancy.

Blue the Dragon very tiny, only 3 centimeters long, but it preys on formidable opponents - extremely poisonous jellyfish of the “Portuguese boat” type. His jaws deftly gnaw atb. Srinivasulu. First record of the blue sea slug (Glaucus atlanticus) from Andhra Pradesh / The Journal of Asian Biodiversity not only them, but also other blue dragons, if they fall under a hot hand.

4. Nudibranch sea slug

Felimare picta

This mollusk lives in warm subtropical waters, in particular - in the Mediterranean Sea, off the coast of Spain and Portugal and in the Gulf of Mexico. ExistJ. J. Welch. The Island Rule and Deep‑Sea Gastropods: Re‑Examining the Evidence / Plos One many species of nudibranch slugs, and they all look incredibly extravagant. Their colors range from yellow and blue to blue, pink and purple.

Usually slugs are quite small - about 20 cm in length, but there are also larger specimens exceeding 64 cm. They do not have shells, they have a different way of protection. These creatures possessM. Q. Edmunds. Acid secretion in some species of Doridacea (Mollusca, Nudibranchia) / Journal of Molluscan Studies / Oxford Academic poisonous blood - it contains sulfuric or hydrochloric acid.

Yes, just like the xenomorph from the Alien movie. Of course, the blood of a slug will not burn through the floor in the laboratory, but to deprive some aggressive the fish of the opportunity to eat it can easily.

5. Purple Australian Worm

Eunice aphroditois

Really harsh sea monsterPolychaetes & Allies: The Southern Synthesis - Pamela L. Beesley, Graham J. b. Ross, Christopher J. Glasby, Australian Biological Resources Study, leading a bottom way of life. The length of the worm reaches as much as three meters. He digs inH. Debelius. Asia Pacific Reef Guide: Malaysia, Indonesia, Palau, Philippines into the ground and waits for something tasty to swim past - fish, squid, octopus or a scuba diver... It's a joke, he doesn't eat people. But theoretically it can bite: the jaws of this creature are very powerful. True, such cases have not yet been recorded.

Purple Aussie has one more titleP. L. Beesley, G. J. b. Ross, C. J. Glasby. Polychaetes & Allies: The Southern Synthesis - Bobbit worm. It was assigned to the monster in honor of a married couple with a similar surname. The couple quarreled repeatedly, and once, in 1993, the wife, unable to withstand the bullying, chopped off her husband's genitals with a knife. But due to blood clot he did not bleed, and the member was safely sewn back.

Video: liquidguru / Ambon Dive Center

You ask why the worm is so named? But because he also famously cuts his victims in half - just like Lorena Bobbit.

More with this creature tiedSuperstar Worm/BBC one funny case. Once, in 2009, in the public aquarium Blue Reef in the English county of Cornwall, fish began to disappear, moreover, expensive and rare.

The staff began investigating, dug in the ground and found a giant worm there. Looks like it was brought in by accident. As a result, he was transplanted into a separate aquarium and named Barry.

6. starship

Latin name: Condylura cristata

Interesting forms of life are found not only in the depths of the ocean, but also in the bowels of the earth. Here, for example, is a cute star-nosed mole that lives in the humid lowland regions of North America.

His face is a real radar equippedK. C. Catania. A nose that looks like a hand and acts like an eye: the unusual mechanosensory system of the star-nosed mole / SpringerLink 25,000 receptors called Eimer's organs. They allow the mole to instantly identify objects that appear in front of its snout. Apparently, with such a pumped nose eyes are no longer needed.

Starship also is anK. C. Catania. Asymptotic prey profitability drives star‑nosed moles to the foraging speed limit / Nature one of the fastest thinking animals in the world: its brain is able to decide whether prey is edible or not in about 8 ms. This is actually the maximum speed at which neurons can transmit information.

And if the star-carrier used his head not only to eat in it, then, probably, he would become some kind of academician.