Deep beneath the ocean’s surface, there are creatures so bizarre and terrifying that even the sea seems to hide them. From alien-like predators to deep-sea monsters no human has ever seen alive, these mysterious ocean dwellers will leave you speechless.
Join us as we explore the darkest parts of the ocean and uncover the most terrifying marine life ever discovered — and the ones still lurking in the unknown.
🌊 Are we truly alone in the deep? Or is something watching us from below? Animation is created by Bright Side.
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For more videos and articles visit: http://www.brightside.me
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This video is made for entertainment purposes. We do not make any warranties about the completeness, safety and reliability. Any action you take upon the information in this video is strictly at your own risk, and we will not be liable for any damages or losses. It is the viewer's responsibility to use judgement, care and precaution if you plan to replicate.
Join us as we explore the darkest parts of the ocean and uncover the most terrifying marine life ever discovered — and the ones still lurking in the unknown.
🌊 Are we truly alone in the deep? Or is something watching us from below? Animation is created by Bright Side.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Music from TheSoul Sound: https://thesoul-sound.com/
Check our Bright Side podcast on Spotify and leave a positive review! https://open.spotify.com/show/0hUkPxD34jRLrMrJux4VxV
Subscribe to Bright Side: https://goo.gl/rQTJZz
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Our Social Media:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/brightplanet/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/brightside.official
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@brightside.official?lang=en
Stock materials (photos, footages and other):
https://www.depositphotos.com
https://www.shutterstock.com
https://www.eastnews.ru
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
For more videos and articles visit: http://www.brightside.me
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
This video is made for entertainment purposes. We do not make any warranties about the completeness, safety and reliability. Any action you take upon the information in this video is strictly at your own risk, and we will not be liable for any damages or losses. It is the viewer's responsibility to use judgement, care and precaution if you plan to replicate.
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FunTranscript
00:00So imagine stumbling upon a creature so huge it could dwarf even the largest known marine animals today.
00:07Scientists discovered the fossils of this beast on England's coast, and believe it once ruled the waves.
00:14The new species was named Ichthyotitan severinensis, but thankfully for me, scientists nicknamed it the Littlestock monster.
00:23Its estimated lengths ranged from 72 to 85 feet long, almost as big as a blue whale.
00:30Megalodon can't even compare to this. It was only about 60 feet long.
00:34And what's crazy is that this fossil we found wasn't even an adult, so who knows what their actual size was.
00:41The first piece of the Littlestock monster was discovered in 2016 in the Westbury Formation.
00:47Researchers found a 3-foot-long jaw part that belonged to an unknown species.
00:52For years, this single fragment had been driving them crazy because they had no idea what that animal was.
01:00Then, in 2020, a miracle happened, of sorts.
01:03A father with his 11-year-old daughter found the second piece of fossil on a beach.
01:08This discovery led to more findings.
01:11Finally, in 2022, the last piece of the literal jaw puzzle was found, buried along the Somerset coast.
01:18This leviathan belonged to the Shastasaurid family.
01:23Both the Littlestock monster and other Shastasaurids had one ancestor.
01:27So, all the species in this family are super similar to each other.
01:31For example, all of them were the largest marine reptiles ever to exist.
01:36Although our Littlestock monster is much larger, most Shastasaurids could grow up to only 69 feet long.
01:43And it's possible that the Littlestock monster, when fully grown, would reach up to 100 feet or even more.
01:50Both of their bodies were just perfect for cruising the ancient seas.
01:54These marine titans were elegant and slender, with an elongated snout.
01:59Other marine animals at the time were smaller and looked more like dolphins.
02:04Shastasaurids had long, paddle-like limbs adapted for efficient swimming.
02:07Their skulls show large eye sockets, which means they had excellent vision.
02:13If you were in the ocean, no matter what time it was or where you were hiding, they could spot you.
02:18They were also incredibly fast and could dive to great depths.
02:23Of course, all these things made them the most terrifying predators.
02:26They ate pretty much everything, including fish and squid, and you if you were there.
02:31They probably captured their prey like whales, opened their huge mouths, and literally sucked the fish in.
02:38What made the Littlestock monster especially scary is that it wins in the jaw competition.
02:44For other Shastasaurids, their jaws were a bit weaker.
02:47So they hunted smaller fish, kind of like today's orchids.
02:50They required vast amounts of food.
02:52This shows us that the Earth's Triassic oceans had rich, productive food webs.
02:57But the Littlestock monster has this unique feature.
03:00It could open its jaw almost 90 degrees upwards.
03:04It also had tons of powerful muscles around.
03:06Its jaws were horrifyingly strong.
03:09So while others were hunting some squids, the Littlestock monster probably hunted large fish and even other marine reptiles.
03:17Fossils of Shastasaurus have been found everywhere in the world, from North America to Asia.
03:23This means that these creatures dominated and terrorized the oceans for millions of years.
03:28Although even they weren't completely safe from scavengers.
03:31And that's exactly why we struggle to find these fossils now.
03:35Scavengers didn't leave any remnants of them.
03:37So while we have some fossils of this marine family, they mostly remain a mystery for us.
03:43They lived in the oceans about 200 million years ago, in the late Triassic period.
03:49The Earth looked completely different back then.
03:51All continents were united in one Pangea, a huge landmass.
03:56Some parts of this supercontinent were covered with lush conifer forests, while others were dry deserts and open prairies.
04:02It was before the famous Jurassic period.
04:06But there were already first pterosaurs and amphibians.
04:09It seems like those monsters were crazy resilient.
04:12The Triassic period was super unstable.
04:15But they survived through many changes in the environment.
04:18Well, until the last one.
04:20The Triassic extinction came out of nowhere.
04:23It was one of the Earth's Big Five extinction events.
04:26It wiped out almost all species on the planet, including these leviathans.
04:30It's still not clear what happened exactly.
04:34But it looks like there was a huge tectonic activity.
04:37Volcanoes in the oceans were going crazy back then.
04:40These massive volcanic eruptions have probably altered the climate and ocean chemistry,
04:46leading to the extinction of many species.
04:48Scientists have a theory that it might have happened because there was a rain of comets flying to our planet from the Oort cloud.
04:55This likely happens about every 200 million years or so.
04:58I wasn't around then, so I'm just guessing here.
05:02In any case, after the extinction, the Earth took some time to recover.
05:07Then it entered the famous Jurassic period.
05:09More terrifying sea monsters were on the way.
05:13One of them left us a colossal skull.
05:15This fossil is 150 million years old, and it also belonged to a sea beast from Jurassic times.
05:22They called it the Sea Rex.
05:24The name is very fitting.
05:25This monster could have broken a car in half with one bite.
05:29It was also discovered accidentally.
05:32A fossil enthusiast was walking along the Jurassic coast.
05:35This place is famous for having tons of ancient fossils, all because of the erosion and stormy weather.
05:41Typically, people find small spiral fossils here.
05:45However, this time, he discovered a giant sea monster fossil.
05:49Excited, he contacted scientists.
05:51They arrived at the spot right away and then had to carefully climb down a cliff to search for the rest of the skull.
05:58This fragment alone is 6.5 feet long.
06:01Turns out, it's a newly discovered species of pliosaurs, giant predators of the ancient seas.
06:06Pliosaurs were among the largest marine predators ever.
06:10Some of them grew up to 40 feet long.
06:12They used their huge teeth to snatch and devour prey, including other reptiles.
06:17Well, at least those creatures are far gone.
06:20But what about the horrors that still live in our oceans?
06:24Recently, biologists discovered the world's longest animal, the one that's still alive to this day.
06:29They found it off Australia's coast, on the Gascoyne coast, a very mysterious and unexplored place.
06:37There, underwater vehicles stumbled upon a frightening 150-foot-long siphonophore.
06:43It's twice as long as many blue whales and three times as long as a humpback whale.
06:48Doesn't it kind of look like one of those toy string worms?
06:52But this creature isn't friendly at all.
06:54It's a string-like deep-sea predator.
06:56What's even more scary is that this isn't actually one creature.
07:01It's a colony of small clones working together as one.
07:04Basically, collective consciousness.
07:07Ooh, bored.
07:08Together, they stretch out like a single long string in the water.
07:12This creature might be the longest siphonophore ever found.
07:16And it was discovered at a depth of around 2,000 feet.
07:20Siphonophores, similar to jellyfish, capture their prey by dangling, stinging tentacles in the water.
07:25When their tentacles touch small crustaceans and fish, they get paralyzed.
07:30And then, they're reeled up to the colony's body.
07:34Expeditions to Western Australia's underwater canyons were definitely worth it.
07:38Together with that siphonophore, scientists have discovered up to 30 potential new marine species.
07:44Among them were a new octopus or squid, a long-tailed sea cucumber, glass sponges, and giant hyroids,
07:52colonies of animals resembling upside-down jellyfish.
07:55None of them have been seen before in Australia.
07:58But most of them weren't as scary as the one that was recently discovered in the Gulf of Mexico.
08:04This creature is straight out of a sci-fi thriller.
08:08A 26-foot-long mangapenna squid, or bigfin squid.
08:12It was discovered near an offshore oil rig at a depth of more than 7,800 feet.
08:17It has incredibly long, elastic tentacles, which can be 15 to 20 times longer than its body.
08:24It holds them at right angles to its body, making it look even creepier, almost as if it has elbows.
08:31And yes, it's another deep-sea predator.
08:34These 10 tentacles probably help the squid trap their prey and drag it onto the seafloor.
08:39We barely know anything about this extraterrestrial-looking creature because they're very hard to find and study.
08:46And if you think their tentacles are awful, just check out these creatures with 20 arms.
08:51This thing looks like a face-hugger.
08:53This new species is lurking in the frozen depths of Antarctica.
08:57Experts were searching for cryptic sea animals known as promachocrinus, or Antarctic feather stars.
09:04They're kind of similar to starfish and sea cucumbers, but have an otherworldly appearance
09:09and can live up to 6,500 feet below the surface.
09:12It's called the Antarctic strawberry feather star.
09:16Despite its pretty name, its appearance is anything but cute.
09:19It has a bizarre strawberry-like body, from which 20 spindly arms branch off.
09:25Its coloring ranges from purple to dark reddish, and the arms all have different lengths and thickness.
09:31Who knows how many more of such scary creatures we'll discover in the future?
09:37It was one of the biggest creatures ever to roam the Earth.
09:41It was longer than your average school bus and could easily weigh more than 10 elephants combined.
09:46But where did it live? How did it end up having this size?
09:50And most importantly, why is it extinct nowadays?
09:54Let's find out.
09:56The megalodon was the largest predator ever known in our planet's history.
10:01In terms of its location, the megalodon lived practically in all waters on our globe, except near the poles.
10:07The reason why there were no megalodon teeth found in Antarctica is probably that the gigantic creature adapted to only warm, tropical, and subtropical waters.
10:17The younger ones liked to keep to the shores, while full-grown adults preferred coastal areas.
10:22But they could easily move into the open ocean as well.
10:26How do we know the megalodon was so widely spread?
10:29We can only presume, based on the fact that they discovered the most northern fossils off the coast of Denmark, and the most southern in New Zealand.
10:38The discussion of how the megalodon got this size is still open in the scientific community.
10:44They recently found out that not all the specimens from this fascinating species reach the same huge size.
10:50This has to do with a little something called the Bergman's Rule, which says that the temperature of the surrounding environment affects the animal's body size because they either need to conserve or shed heat.
11:02The megalodons that reach cooler waters probably needed more body weight to make sure they survived in low temperatures.
11:09On the contrary, those living in warmer waters had to be smaller to avoid burning up.
11:14But what did this enormous fish look like?
11:17Most modern depictions show the megalodon resembling an enormous great white shark.
11:22But, well, it seems it may not necessarily be correct.
11:26The megalodon likely had a much shorter nose and a flatter jaw that looked almost squashed when compared with a great white shark.
11:34It also seems to have something in common with the modern blue shark – extra-long pectoral fins.
11:40They needed these to support their weight and size while navigating the planet's waters.
11:45Lastly, the lady megalodons, ew, seem to have been about twice as large as the gentlemen.
11:52As for their offspring, even a small megalodon was enormous, at least six and a half feet from nose to tail.
11:59How do we know that?
12:00Because specialists have stumbled upon megalodon nursery habitats in Panama, Maryland, the Canary Islands, and Florida.
12:08Even the piles of used diapers were enormous.
12:11Nah, not really.
12:12Surely, the scariest aspect of the megalodon's looks was its mouth.
12:17I mean, think about it.
12:19Megalodon had whales for dinner, so it obviously needed to open its mouth wide enough.
12:24Scientists have estimated that its jaw would span a mind-boggling size, 9 by 11 feet wide.
12:31Just to paint you a better picture, that means it could have easily gulped down two adult people side by side.
12:38Wait, which two adults?
12:39Those impressive jaws also feature 276 teeth.
12:43Based on modern reconstructions of the force of its bite, it looks like it may have been one of the most, if not the most, powerful animals of prey ever to exist in.
12:54For comparison, humans can have a bite force of around 1,300 newtons.
12:59Today, great white sharks have been estimated to be able to bite down with a force of over 18,000 newtons.
13:05The megalodon tops all the records, with an estimated power of bite up to 10 times greater than that.
13:13It could basically crush a car with very little effort.
13:16Its teeth were also pretty amazing.
13:18Similar to sharks, the megalodon was fast in replacing its broken or worn teeth.
13:23With four or five rows of teeth in its mouth, it basically acted like a conveyor belt, growing back damaged or missing teeth within about 48 hours.
13:33This means that an adult megalodon probably would have grown several thousand teeth throughout its lifetime.
13:39It was nice of them to do that, though, since it's probably one of the reasons why megalodon teeth are so common in fossil records, and we're able to study them properly.
13:48To maintain its impressive physique, the megalodon had to eat somewhere around 2,500 pounds of food per day.
13:57Can't wrap your head around that?
13:58Well, it was the equivalent of one and a quarter cows per day to survive.
14:03It's like if you had to eat 3,300 cans of tuna every day.
14:07I've used the word megalodon a lot, but have I mentioned where it comes from?
14:12When translated from Greek, it means giant tooth.
14:15Ah, those clever Greeks.
14:17However, this giant shark's full scientific name is a bit more complicated, Carcharocles megalodon.
14:24But are these gigantic predators actually extinct?
14:28We tend to believe so, but let's be honest for a second.
14:32We've come to know more about the surface of Mars than the depths of our oceans.
14:36Like, we've only explored 15% of our oceans altogether.
14:40Who knows what may be lying out there in the deep?
14:44Maybe some ancient predators?
14:45The Mariana Trench is the deepest oceanic trench on Earth.
14:50The Challenger Deep, its deepest part, is so deep that you could dip the whole of Mount Everest in there,
14:56and it would still be over a mile above the surface.
14:59That's deep.
15:00If a megalodon or two ever needed a place to crash, that would be a discreet enough location.
15:07However, the Mariana Trench is not a particularly comfy place to be in.
15:12You know, because it's cold and steeped in total darkness and all.
15:15The temperatures here are around 36 degrees Fahrenheit all year round.
15:19And to top it all off, the pressure is a thousand times stronger than at sea level.
15:24So, it's safe to assume that if any megalodon is hiding in here, its teeth and bones might not be looking so good.
15:31Because of the intense pressure here in the Mariana Trench, proteins and calcium start to dissolve and disintegrate.
15:38That's why, for example, the Haddell Snailfish, the deepest dwelling fish we've discovered, has evolved to feature flexible cartilage instead of bones.
15:48To survive here, the megalodon would also need to learn to navigate in complete darkness.
15:53That means they would have to either become luminescent or evolve to grow massive eyes like the giant squid.
16:01While it may sound like an intriguing and good idea for a movie script, most scientists don't think it's possible.
16:07Why? Well, most of them say it's because of the megalodon's size.
16:11Most foods that megalodons like to eat live in shallow ocean areas and not in the deep, deep sea.
16:18Specialists believe that if these animals were actually still roaming our waters, there's no way we wouldn't know about it.
16:24They would need to come up for dinner every now and then, right?
16:28Their food is also the most likely cause of why the megalodon is not alive anymore.
16:32While some specialists believe the megalodon became extinct because of a drop in the ocean water temperature,
16:39most scientists suggested that the shifting food chain dynamics may have been more to blame.
16:44Why? Because at some point, there was less and less of its primary food source, baleen whales.
16:50And at the same time, the numbers of its natural competitors, like smaller predatory sharks like the great white shark and whales, increased.
16:59The megalodon did live on this planet a lot more than we did, and way back when we didn't even exist yet.
17:06They were here for nearly 70 times longer than we, modern humans, have, inhabiting the oceans for around 20 million years.
17:14Homo sapiens appeared around 300,000 years ago.
17:18The megalodon managed to survive for so long mostly because of its unbeatable size.
17:23I mean, they can make a meal out of almost everything in the sea at the time.
17:28We may think about both of them as prehistoric creatures, but the megalodons and the dinosaurs never coexisted on Earth.
17:35The dinosaurs probably died out about 66 million years ago.
17:40Megalodons seem to have appeared a bit later.
17:42That's because the oldest megalodon fossils we have yet discovered are from the Myocene Epoch, which began 23 million years ago.
17:51So long, Meg.
17:57Lions, dogs, cats, all these mammals sleep in pretty comfortable positions, but not whales.
18:03They look like giant floating loaves of bread, which is a scene one diver accidentally came across in the Caribbean Sea.
18:10Six whales were just standing upright with their tails pointed down at a depth of about 65 feet below the surface.
18:17Scientists discovered that when sperm whales take a nap, they stay in this position for 10 to 15 minutes.
18:24They don't move or breathe.
18:25But these creatures spend only 7% of their time asleep, far less than other mammals.
18:31Usually, they either rest peacefully in the water or relax, slowly swimming next to other marine animals.
18:38When they're moving and sleeping at the same time, they're actually taking a nap.
18:42These animals can't go too deep and need to stay close to the surface.
18:47Great white sharks sleep and hunt at greater depths, which means one less thing to worry about when taking a quick nap.
18:54Plus, it gets pretty cold the deeper you go.
18:57And whales need warmer environments that can help them maintain the temperature of their large bodies.
19:02When alone, dolphins enter a stage of deep sleep.
19:07It usually happens at night and lasts for only a few hours at a time.
19:11While sleeping, the animal floats at the surface.
19:14It shuts down half of its brain, I can relate, together with the opposite eye.
19:19The other half is at a low alert level, awake and ready to react if some unwanted visitor comes closer.
19:26The part of the brain that is awake also sends signals when it's time to go up to the surface to take a breath of fresh air.
19:34Marine mammals have the blowhole.
19:36That's a flap of skin they can open and close whenever they want.
19:40People breathe automatically.
19:41Your body knows what it needs to do even when you're sleeping.
19:45But whales and dolphins have a voluntary breathing system.
19:48It means they need to consciously go to the surface to get some air.
19:52And one part of their brain needs to always be awake to inform the animal it's time to go up.
19:59Whales and dolphins can hold their breath way longer than other species.
20:03They also have a higher tolerance for carbon dioxide and can take in more air.
20:08Their red blood cells store more oxygen, too.
20:11Whales and dolphins' blood goes only to those body parts that really need oxygen.
20:16If a whale only uses its brain, heart, fins, and some other muscles needed for swimming at the moment,
20:23those will also be the only body parts that will get the oxygen.
20:27Digestion or other functions can wait.
20:29The ocean is not a place where you can relax and peacefully fall asleep.
20:34While sleeping, fish reduce their activity.
20:37Their metabolism becomes slow.
20:39Some of them keep floating in the same spot.
20:42Others find a safer place among corals or in the mud.
20:45Early in life, dolphins learn to make a unique whistle that helps others from their pod to identify them.
20:52That means these specific whistles are their names, and dolphins do respond to them.
20:58Clams have feet.
21:00It looks like a large tongue that sometimes protrudes from the shell.
21:03But that's actually the foot.
21:05And it's relatively long compared to the length of the animal.
21:09Clams use this limb to dig themselves in the sand.
21:12The blue whale is the largest living animal, and it's also larger than the majority of dinosaurs used to be.
21:19They can grow to more than 100 feet long and have a weight of almost 200 tons.
21:25That's like 50 adult elephants.
21:27A blue whale's tongue alone can weigh more than one elephant.
21:30Such a giant surely needs to eat a lot.
21:33Half a million calories in just one mouthful.
21:36The blue whale's heart is the size of a small car and weighs 1,300 pounds.
21:42To move the blood through such a giant body, the heartbeats are so strong, you can hear them even from two miles away.
21:50The heart of a whale beats only 8 to 10 times per minute.
21:53The whale is one of the loudest creatures out there.
21:56Its cough can go up to 180 decibels, which is as loud as a jet plane.
22:01Almost 95% of jellyfish's body is made of water.
22:06For comparison, the human body is 60% water.
22:10It's probably not a surprise since jellyfish don't have a heart, blood, eyes, or brain.
22:15The other 5% of their body weight is proteins, muscles, and nerve cells.
22:21Jellyfish have been around for more than 500 million years.
22:24This makes them older than dinosaurs.
22:27These creatures haven't changed much, and today's jellyfish are pretty much like their ancestors.
22:33These creatures live in the ocean, but in 1991, more than 2,000 jellyfish polyps were taken into space.
22:41Scientists wanted to see how they would react in the environment with no gravity.
22:45The jellyfish reproduced and created 60,000 new polyps.
22:49But unfortunately, those couldn't function normally after getting back to Earth.
22:54One species of jellyfish can literally live forever.
22:58As it grows older, the critter goes down to the seafloor to become a polyp again.
23:02And that polyp turns into a new jellyfish with the same genetics.
23:08Greenland sharks can live 500 years.
23:11This is an animal with almost the longest lifespan among vertebrates.
23:16Sperm whales are sociable creatures.
23:17They spend their life surrounded by their family.
23:20These animals support one another and have close friends they remember well, even if they don't see each other for a long time.
23:28Electric eels have small eyes that are not so effective in environments with no light, so they mostly rely on their electric organs.
23:37Those consist of 6,000 cells.
23:40Eels use them to stow power, similar to batteries.
23:42These creatures use electricity, like bats use their radars or dolphins their sonar.
23:49An eel can also produce enough electricity to power a panel of light bulbs.
23:54There's a small tropical archer fish that can learn to recognize human faces.
24:00This fish has an interesting ability to spit small jets of water from its mouth.
24:05Researchers showed the fish the image of two different faces placed side by side.
24:09One was unknown, and the other was familiar.
24:13The fish was supposed to spit water at the familiar one.
24:16The creature took the right guess more than 80% of the time.
24:21Every year in the winter, great white sharks that live along the California coastline disappear.
24:27It feels as if they take a vacation for 30 to 40 days.
24:30The animals go to a point halfway between Hawaii and Mexico.
24:34They might do it to get some food, relax, or hang out with their buddies from other areas.
24:40The spot is now called the Whale Shark Cafe.
24:44Some types of sharks, like makos, whale sharks, or white sharks, breathe in a very specific way.
24:50It requires them to swim all the time.
24:52They also need to move quickly and with their mouth open.
24:56This way, the oxygen can enter and reach their gills.
25:00Sea sponges are some of the most primitive animals.
25:02They're immobile, don't have a mouth, eyes, bones, brain, heart, lungs, or any other organ whatsoever.
25:09And still, they're alive.
25:12There's such a thing as a sea unicorn.
25:14That's an animal called the narwhal.
25:17Its horn is actually a tooth that can grow up to 10 feet long.
25:21Manatees, also known as sea cows, are distant relatives of elephants.
25:26Their weight can go up to 1,000 pounds.
25:28These creatures are vegetarian and need to eat around 10% of their total weight on a daily basis.
25:35That's lots of sea salad.
25:37In some cases, manatees share space with alligators.
25:41But they get along pretty well.
25:43You can even find a photo from Florida where an alligator rides a manatee's back.
25:48Frogfish have special fins that help these creatures walk along the sand.
25:53They're very useful in shallow waters.
25:55A ghost pipefish is hard to see.
25:59But once you spot it, you're bound to get really surprised.
26:03Its head makes up over 40% of its body.
26:06Crabs don't feel like wasting time on such formalities as putting foods in their mouth.
26:12That's why they taste it with their feet, which is where their taste buds are.
26:16Marine iguanas are the only lizards on our planet that like spending time in the ocean,
26:21even though they mainly live on land.
26:23They're herbivores that feed in shallow waters and swim like snakes.
26:28Iguanas use their long claws to hold on to the bottom when they need to graze.
26:33Green turtles can cross over 1,400 miles when migrating.
26:37They try to find the perfect spot to lay their eggs.
26:41Penguins sort of fly when they're underwater, reaching a speed of 25 miles per hour.
26:47More than 5 million years ago, I've heard – I wasn't around then – deep sea worms and humans had a common ancestor.
26:55So we still share 70% of our genes with these creatures, and with sea stars, squid, and octopuses.
27:03The ocean covers over 70% of our planet, and over 80% of it is unexplored.
27:10More than 1 million species live there.
27:12But there are not only animals.
27:143 million shipwrecks are lying all over the ocean floor, hiding mysterious stories.
27:20Many of them are yet to be discovered.
27:22Most of the ocean is still shrouded in mystery, whether we're talking about dark corners or creatures that are hiding in the depths.
27:34But sometimes, it gives us a peek into scary things it hides in its cold, dark depths.
27:40Like when you hear on the news that there are some deep sea creatures washed ashore after a powerful storm once again.
27:46Some just look weird, while others are real monsters that live at depths of more than 3,300 feet.
27:55The coldest and deepest parts of the ocean have created one specific phenomenon called gigantism.
28:02So, sea spiders, squids, worms, and many other animals, mostly invertebrates or creatures without backbones,
28:09they're all way bigger and scarier than the versions we see in the more shallow areas.
28:14In the Pacific depths, you can see a sea sponge as large as a minivan.
28:20Or what about the colossal squid that lives in sub-Antarctic waters and is nearly 14 times longer than the arrow squid,
28:28a type that mostly lives in New Zealand?
28:31Researchers found many of these underwater monsters in the abyssal zone of the ocean.
28:36Back in 2021, the researchers showed images of the giant phantom jelly.
28:41It was at a depth of 3,200 feet.
28:44Its tentacles were 33 feet long.
28:47Wow, I wouldn't like to face that one on the beach.
28:50It probably eats only small fish and plankton, but it can swim to depths of more than 21,900 feet.
28:59And down there, this giant jelly doesn't have enough food.
29:03How does it survive then?
29:04Scientists haven't figured it out yet.
29:06And there are even more questions related to the giant squid, the biggest one ever found.
29:14This monster is 43 feet long with a weight of nearly a ton.
29:18Imagine if those tentacles would grab your car or something like that.
29:22They would smash it like it was a toy.
29:26There's no light in the abyssal zone.
29:28Sun rays just can't penetrate that deep.
29:31So there's no algae or underwater plants there.
29:35Local animals mostly eat snow.
29:38Marine snow is not like the regular one you build a snowman with.
29:41It consists of any small flakes or remains that fall from the surface of the ocean.
29:47Maybe even some leftovers that animals up there couldn't eat.
29:51So it's not much.
29:53But apparently, it's enough for very large creatures that hide deep down there, like giant squids.
30:00Squids that generally live at such depths don't bother going after their prey.
30:05They just wait until the poor animal swims right up to their long tentacles and falls into a trap.
30:10It may not be the best method ever, because not many animals will even swim into these dark, cold parts.
30:16But it's the method that saves energy.
30:20A giant squid eats only one ounce of fish daily, which is approximately 45 calories.
30:26That's nearly 50 times fewer calories than an average person should eat per day.
30:31So when a squid gets one fish, it saves it for a couple of days.
30:35I hope giant squids won't get the idea to go to the surface and look for food when there's not enough of it in the abyssal zone.
30:43And I hope even more that giant Greenland sharks won't get that same idea.
30:49You can find them at depths of up to 7,200 feet.
30:53They're twice as slow as we usually walk.
30:56They swim at a speed of 1.12 feet per second.
30:59Their slowness is part of the energy-saving mechanism that creatures down there need to survive.
31:05But they can speed up in the form of short bursts when they need to catch prey.
31:10But they kind of change their diet from predator to scavenger, considering their environment.
31:15There will be more leftovers falling from the surface than animals to go after.
31:19Greenland sharks grow just 0.4 inches per year.
31:24And they're mostly 20 feet long, which means they live for a very long time, sometimes up to 400 years.
31:32They also have a slow metabolism.
31:34And that's one of the main factors for their long life, too.
31:39Greenland sharks like to spend their time in cold waters.
31:42They're adapted to that, since their tissues have specific chemical compounds that prevent the forming of ice crystals all over their body.
31:50That means they have some sort of natural antifreeze.
31:54So what makes them so big?
31:57Scientists are still not sure, but some theories try to explain it.
32:01There's this thing called Clibber's Rule that says bigger animals tend to be more efficient.
32:07Just take a small fish and compare it to a whale, with a mass hundreds of times bigger.
32:13The whale has a greater metabolism.
32:15It conserves energy more efficiently and loses less of it to the surroundings through heat.
32:21Moving on.
32:22Bigger animals can ingest bigger prey.
32:25They're more likely to go through tough issues in their environment or defend themselves from predators going after them.
32:31Also, the body gets bigger when temperatures are lower.
32:34The Greenland shark is a perfect example.
32:37So are giant sea spiders.
32:40Sea spiders are generally common, and you find some very small ones at 0.04 inches.
32:47But in deeper parts of the Antarctic, they become three-foot-long giants.
32:52They grow so big because the cold water has more oxygen.
32:55That way, more of it diffuses into the animal's body, and that allows it to grow bigger.
33:00Yeah, both as a creature and a nightmare.
33:04And how about this giant tube worm?
33:07Researchers found it accidentally while they were exploring the mysteries of the Pacific Ocean floor.
33:12They stumbled upon unusual hydrothermal vents.
33:16Volcanic heat is a thing that gets them going.
33:18As water seeps down through faults or cracks in the rock, these vents change their direction.
33:24When the water gets out of the vent, it's rich in different minerals and chemicals.
33:28Most animals wouldn't survive being around this toxic soup of chemicals, but not these tube worms.
33:35They came as a true surprise, because not only are they not bothered by these toxic vents and the almost boiling temperature of the water,
33:47but they developed entire ecosystems there.
33:51They're unique because they don't need sunlight to survive.
33:54Instead, small bacteria are their main source of energy.
33:57That bacteria gets their energy directly from these toxic chemicals.
34:02So, it's not photosynthesis, but a process called chemosynthesis.
34:07And these tube worms don't have mouths.
34:09These bacteria live inside them.
34:12Strange story, huh?
34:14Plus, these scary worms reach up to 8 feet.
34:17Giant isopods are no better, either.
34:21They lurk at the depths of the ocean of 1,640 feet or more below, far away from the sunlight, looking like some monstrous wood lice.
34:31They spend most of their time on the seabed, hoping to find some food falling from higher levels of the ocean.
34:38Check out their small hooked claws at the ends of their legs.
34:41Isopods use them to remain more stable while moving around the ocean floor.
34:46Since there's no light, they have long antennae that help them feel their way around.
34:52These sensory antennas are about half the length of their body.
34:56Giant isopods have pretty big eyes compared to their body size, too.
35:00They can grow over 12 inches from head to tail.
35:03And these fellas are really patient.
35:06Remember how we said animals down there rarely get food?
35:09Sometimes they need to wait for years to get a proper meal.
35:13That's why their metabolism is amazingly slow.
35:17Five years later.
35:19They can go for five years without eating anything.
35:23Imagine that.
35:24I get hungry just talking about this.
35:27In 2006, a biologist did research to compare the differences between the shallows and the deep sea regions.
35:34He realized the deep sea mirrors the island rule.
35:37First, isolated parts of land develop biodiversity you won't find anywhere else.
35:43Second, small-bodied life there grows much bigger when it's isolated, compared to life on large land masses.
35:50Resources are limited, but also competition and predators.
35:54And we don't know much about these deep sea creatures.
35:58It's too expensive and too complicated to carry out such research.
36:03So, we'll just wait for more raging storms to show us at least part of the monstrous world Cold Ocean Depths hide.
36:10It looks like a prehistoric creature that came from the time of dinosaurs.
36:16This scary beast is called the basking shark.
36:19It can grow up to 39 feet.
36:21People have only reported three of them in the past 160 years.
36:25The last sighting was in 2015, and before that, about 80 years ago.
36:30These sharks sometimes rise to the surface to filter out small animals, such as shrimps and other small crustaceans, when they want to have a nice, tasty seafood dinner.
36:41But when there isn't enough grub at the surface, they go down to the depths of almost 3,300 feet, where they tend to stay for months.
36:49Which is something researchers discovered using satellite tags.
36:52Tag, you're it!
36:53Now, basking sharks like to spend their time in more temperate waters, but they can migrate long distances.
37:00They live across the globe, but in warm tropical or subtropical areas, they won't go near the surface because they're not fans of high temperatures.
37:09The lion's mane jellyfish is not that rare, but it's fascinating how large it is.
37:15It's the biggest among jellyfish species and the longest animal.
37:18Its total length can reach 120 feet, that's approximately 23 feet more than the longest blue whale scientists know about.
37:27The jellyfish has around 70 to 150 tentacles, and they all contain huge amounts of neurotoxins that can seriously harm you if you come in contact with the animal.
37:37But people don't usually come across this type of jellyfish because it rarely lives near the coast, preferring the open ocean.
37:44Generally, you can find the lion's mane jellyfish no deeper than 65 feet below the surface, where it dines on small fishes, zooplankton, and some other types of jellyfish.
37:55It uses its tentacles to catch its value meal.
37:58Hey, you want fries with that?
38:00The giant phantom jelly comes out of the darkness and depths of the ocean's midnight zone.
38:05Its sun-hat-shaped bell reaches over 3 feet across.
38:09This bell trails 4 ribbon-like mouth arms that can be up to 33 feet long.
38:15This quite rare creature uses its mouth arms to catch unfortunate animals swimming around and not knowing what's coming for them.
38:23Giant phantom jelly propels itself through the water with periodic pulses coming from its orange head.
38:30It glows faintly and mysteriously in the pitch-black depths.
38:34It lives across the globe in all the oceans, except for the Arctic.
38:38I'm guessing it's too cold.
38:40Because of its odd shape, people often call the oarfish the dragonfish or sea serpent.
38:47It's about 26 feet long, which makes it the longest bony fish we know about, and lives at depths of 3,300 feet.
38:55Oarfish spend most of their time in the deep, dark parts of the open ocean in tropical and subtropical areas.
39:01They almost never come to the surface, unless, you know, invited.
39:06It's a ribbon-shaped and shiny silver creature with a long red dorsal fin and red oar-like pelvic fins.
39:13Its body has no scales and is very thin.
39:16The fish can grow to a length of about 30 feet and weigh 660 pounds.
39:22Oarfish have really big eyes that help them see better in their dark, scary surroundings.
39:26The frilled shark is definitely one of the gnarliest-looking marine animals out there.
39:33If you saw it somewhere, you'd probably think you went back to the age of dinosaurs.
39:38Yup, the frilled shark is a prehistoric creature because its roots go back 80 million years.
39:44This living fossil can grow to be 7 feet long.
39:47It got its name from its frilly gills.
39:49Even though frilled sharks have the shark part in their name, they swim similar to an eel in a distinctly serpentine way.
39:58Its mouth is terrifying.
40:00Similar to the maw of the great white shark, it has 300 trident-shaped teeth lined in 25 rows.
40:07Hey, come a little closer, huh?
40:10Researchers discovered this creature in the 19th century.
40:13But people rarely see it.
40:15And no wonder.
40:16It usually lives at depths of between 390 and 4200 feet.
40:21Most of the time, the frilled shark feeds on squid, swallowing them whole.
40:26Its long jaws allowed the frilled shark to gape extra wide and swallow animals half as long as its entire body.
40:34Goblin sharks are very rare.
40:36Researchers have spotted fewer than 50 of them in more than 120 years.
40:40But maybe that's for the best, since we're talking about a pretty scary fella with a narrow snout and sharp teeth.
40:48It's also capable of thrusting its entire jaw outward when it wants to catch something.
40:54Hmm, sounds familiar.
40:55As it's lurking through the dark depths of the ocean, a goblin shark sees a small squid that looks quite yummy.
41:02The dangerous animal inches toward the squid.
41:05When the poor creature notices the predator, it tries to dart away.
41:09But it's too late.
41:11The shark has already thrust its jaw the whole three inches out of its mouth.
41:15This jaw is connected to the flaps of skin the shark can unfold.
41:19This helps a lot because the goblin shark is a sluggish animal.
41:23So it's pretty hard for it to chase its food.
41:26After finishing its lunch, the goblin shark puts its jaw back in its mouth and swims away as if nothing's happened.
41:33Goblin sharks mostly live at the bottom of the ocean.
41:37Like many other shark species, they prefer swimming alone.
41:41Here's a silver-colored creature with very rough skin.
41:44That's the ocean sunfish, with a total length of almost 11 feet.
41:49Its other name is mola.
41:52The ocean sunfish is the heaviest of all bony fish out there.
41:56People sometimes call it a swimming head because of its bizarre appearance.
41:59These creatures have such a weird shape because they're born with a back fin that never actually grows.
42:06It just folds into itself as the animal matures and creates a rounded rudder.
42:12The sunfish is a bit clumsy.
42:14It moves with the help of its mighty fins that allow the animal to swim on its side.
42:19This marine inhabitant is a solitary creature.
42:22It mostly feeds on zooplankton and jellyfish.
42:25The spotted wobegong is one of the world's rarest sharks.
42:28It grows to be more than 10 feet long.
42:31It may not look as terrifying as some of its shark relatives,
42:35but it's pretty good at catching unsuspecting animals swimming past, mostly during the night.
42:41The animal has a spherical, which is why it can breathe while staying still at the bottom of the ocean.
42:46It's motionless most of the time, which is why you can barely notice it.
42:50Its flat body and large pelvic and pectoral fins blend in with the underwater terrain.
42:56That's why they're so good at hiding.
42:57This ability helps when these sharks want to protect themselves, too.
43:02Wobegong means carpet shark.
43:04They usually live close to the ocean floor in coral reefs, on sandy bottoms, and under piers.
43:10People have even spotted the shark in the water that is barely deep enough to cover its flattened body.
43:16Now, blobfish lack teeth and bones, so they can't actively hunt.
43:20Since they don't have much muscle mass, they can barely move around.
43:24Hey, I had a roommate like that once.
43:25They get their energy from animals they scoop up from the seafloor.
43:30They also know how to conserve this energy.
43:32That's how it usually goes with deep-sea creatures.
43:35They don't have as much food as those animals that swim closer to the surface.
43:39Instead, they have special body mechanisms that allow them to save energy for the times when they don't have much to eat.
43:46Pressure at the depths where the blobfish lives is 120 times as high as that at the surface.
43:53That's why the bizarre creature looks like a weird gelatinous mass only when you bring it up to the surface.
43:59The pressure here is not strong enough to keep its body together.
44:02Hey, breaking up is hard to do.
44:04The white-margined stargazer could compete with the blobfish for the title of the ugliest animal in the sea, don't you think?
44:12Now, this animal has eyes on the top of its head, together with an upward-facing mouth, which the creature uses to hide itself in the sand.
44:20That's where it spends most of its time, with only its eyes protruding from the sand.
44:25It chills this way until some small animal passes by.
44:29It can lunge at its target incredibly quickly, literally within milliseconds.
44:34This creates a vacuum in the water that pulls in a crab, fish, or some other small, unfortunate animal.
44:40Another tactic involves venom.
44:42This fish has a venomous spine in its shoulder blade that helps with catching other animals and defending itself against enemies.
44:49Even though it's not related to the electric eel, the white-margined stargazer can generate an electric shock as powerful as 50 volts.
44:59Ow!
45:01That's it for today.
45:02So hey, if you pacified your curiosity, then give the video a like and share it with your friends.
45:07Or if you want more, just click on these videos and stay on the bright side!