These coral organisms belong to the same group as anemones, jellyfish, hard corals and other tentacled creatures of the sea.
Brittle Star
The brittle star can be found right across the globe from Siberia in the north to Antarctica in the south, yet we know almost nothing about them.
Dumbo Octopus
Dumbo octopus flaps their ear-like fins, just like the Disney character of the same name, except this animal, flaps its ears to glide gracefully through the deep, dark abyss.
Zombie Worm
Zombie worms (Osedax) are commonly found in the decaying remains of whales on the ocean floor, burrowing into their bones to reach the sustenance within. With no functioning mouths, guts or anuses, they have bacteria that digest the grisly remains for them.
Giant Anemone-Sucking Sea Spiders
These alien lifeforms are not actually spiders at all but one of the oldest arthropods to grace planet Earth. Simplicity is their motto, being little more than a tube within a tube. Many sea spiders have legs that glow in the dark.
Herd Of Sea Pigs
These cute little pink pigs, found in the Freycinet Marine Reserve off Tasmania, are the ocean’s vacuum cleaners, using their tube-like feet to move across the abyssal mud and hoovering up micro-organisms.
Pancake Urchin
These round discs of concentrated urchin are not actually flat in their natural habitat.
Flesh-Eating Crustaceans
Crustaceans such as this amphipod are deep-sea scavengers and will eat almost anything nutritious they come across – including the decaying remains of a dead whale, drifted down from the world above.
Tripod Fish
These iconic abyssal fishes, often called spiderfishes, prop high off the sea floor on their stilt-like fins. Like all fishes in the spiderfish family, they have very reduced eyes. To feed, they face into the current, extending their elongated pectoral fins forward and “feel” their prey items drifting by.
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