Russian Fisherman Posts Terrifying Creatures Of The Deep Sea That He Comes Across, And People Want Him To Stop (30 New Pics)
InterviewThere are countless mysteries hiding under the surface of the ocean. But despite the fact that a whopping 71 percent of the Earth’s surface is covered in water, we don’t know all that much about marine life. Over 80 percent of the planet’s oceans remain unexplored even though they represent the vast majority of the biosphere. We might be landing rovers on Mars, but there are still lots of things to uncover here back home as well.
However, there are some people who help shed some light on the secrets beneath the waves. One of them is photographer and deep-sea fisherman Roman Fedortsov from Russia who spends most of his time on fishing trawlers. He takes photos of some of the most intriguing creatures he encounters in his line of work and posts them online where they often go viral for their bizarre beauty and their intriguing creepiness that you can’t help but look at.
Scroll down to go deep into the abyss, dear Pandas, and upvote the photos by Roman that you enjoyed looking at the most. Bored Panda reached out to Roman and he was kind enough to go into detail about his work and life. Scroll down for our interview with him. And if you’d like to see more mysterious catches from the depths of the ocean, you can read Bored Panda’s earlier articles about the fisherman’s photography right here and over here.
A small note of warning, dear Pandas: some of these undersea fish and other creatures look a tiny bit disturbing. Others... are pure nightmare fuel. So keep that in mind and don't be scared. Remember, just because something's different doesn't make it bad.
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"Gorgonocephalus Is A Genus Of Marine Basket Stars In The Class Ophiuroidea"
"Members of this genus are found in coldwater environments including the Arctic, the Antarctic, and deep-sea habitats.
Members of this genus have a central disc with five arms which repeatedly bifurcate, dichotomously branching into smaller and smaller subdivisions.
The branches and branchlets twist and coil and may ensnare small crustaceans that come within reach such as the northern krill."
"Now I Am Very Sorry That I Did Not Take More Pictures Of This Sea Creature - Deep Sea Angler"
Fangtooth
On his social media profiles, fisherman Roman writes that “the abyss is a little deeper than you think” and that “the sky behind the stern is always beautiful,” showing that he has a very romantic and down-to-earth appreciation of sailing, nature, and the sea.
The fisherman works in Murmansk in the Northwestern part of Russia and started sharing his unusual photographs back in 2016. He has around two decades of experience working on a trawler.
Roman told Bored Panda that he is an expert in fish processing, so his main task is preparing fish for freezing and then delivering that to the customer. That is his main focus at work on the trawler where he manages a group of workers.
Allionymus Lyra
"Wolffish, Also Known As Sea Wolves Or Wolf Eel"
"Wolffish are not aggressive. They feed on slow-moving or sedentary prey such as sea urchins, crabs, molluscs and large snails.
The largest specimen recorded measured 1.5 m long and weighed almost 25 kg"
Leatherfin Lumpsucker
When not managing his other colleagues who help with processing fish on the trawler during their six-hour watches, Roman spends his time resting, socializing, or focusing on his hobbies. "We usually spend Our free time having a meal, watching TV, and sleeping. But I usually take photos of strange deep-sea creatures," he shared.
His job takes him sailing across many different areas, including the Atlantic Ocean, the Norwegian Sea, and the Barents Sea. He explained to Bored Panda that he and his fellow fishermen work in six-hour cycles when aboard a trawler. That means that they work for six hours, rest for six hours, and then repeat everything.
Liparis
"Elon Musk, Bring Me Anything Like That From Mars"
I imagine that it attaches to your face and makes you do its bidding, but what is it?
It's the aquatic cousin of Alice's hookah-smoking caterpillar
Roman said that it has been so long since he saw his first strange sea creature, that he can't remember the exact time anymore. "It was too much time ago when I caught my first deep-sea fish. I think it looked like any of the fish that I am catching now," he told Bored Panda.
According to the fisherman, the strange creatures that they catch on the trawler live between 300 meters and 1 kilometer underneath the surface of the ocean. "Some of the sea creatures are still alive when they are on board the ship, and we set them free. But mostly, they do not survive, unfortunately," he was very open about the fact that not every peculiar fish makes it back to their homes in the dark ocean depths.
"I Think That Whitening Strips Will Not Help In This Situation (Wolffish)"
"Today's Fish Of The Post Is Redfish. it Is Also Called , Rockfish, Ocean Perch"
Red is the first color you will see in deep sea fish. Red light is quickly filtered from water as depth increases and red light effectively never reaches the deep ocean. ... When struck by white light, a red fish at the surface reflects red light and absorbs all other colors and thus appears red. Mother Nature rocks my world
"I've Met A Very Unusual, Interesting Fish!"
"I was able to find how it is called in English, Latin, but NOT in Russian language...⠀
The specialist from PINRO was very surprised when he saw this fish for his very first time, but, anyway, he was able to tell me what kind of fish it is...⠀ He also, mentioned that, that type of fish is very uncommon to find here, that is why this fish has no particular name in Russian language...⠀ Here we are!⠀
Jaggedhead gurnard (Gargariscus, Armored searobins or armored gurnards)⠀ Sounds like knight!
You can find him in Eastern part of Indian ocean, as well as, in Western part of Pacific ocean. This is a deep ocean fish, he lives up to 300 m down in a deep. His length is up to 30 cm long. It is the only known member of its genus.⠀
This is all the information you can find in the Internet about Jaggedhead gurnard, not more..."
"I have been sharing my photos of deep-sea creatures for some years and of course, I was surprised by the popularity of my accounts at the present moment," he said that he wanted to spread awareness about how some of these creatures look like across the internet because they left a very deep impression on him. Roman has always had a very curious outlook towards these fish and other denizens of the deep: they don't scare him, even though they might frighten us.
Cuttlefish
"The Gifts Of The Sea"
"Is It A Sea Cheeseburger With Teeth?"
Roman has been working onboard trawlers for the past two decades. “I live in Murmansk, Russia. It is a big port, and that's why I enrolled in the Marine University after school. My specialization has a lot to do with fishing technology. I know how to prepare fish for freezing and further delivery to the customer,” he told Bored Panda during an earlier interview.
"We are to catch commercial fish such as Cod, Haddock, Halibut, Redfish, Herring, Mackerel, and so on. The most extreme fish I have ever caught are Frilled Shark, Rabbitfish, Big Sunfish, Angler, Stoplight Loosejaw," he said earlier.
"During my watch, I work at the fish factory. I'm responsible for processing the fish, so I have to control other seamen while they're working, too," Roman explained what his job on the trawler was.
"Sea Anemones (Sea Anemones) Are Predatory Invertebrates"
"They have no skeleton. The supporting function of them takes the intestinal cavity. At the pole of the body is a slit-shaped mouth, surrounded by a nimbus of tentacles. Their tentacles have gills that are poisonous. Although sea anemones are mainly poisonous only for their prey, some species are toxic to humans. There are more than 1000 varieties. They feed on zooplankton, mussels, fish and shrimps. Sea anemones feed on food and excrete waste products through the same hole."
Tusk
Roman’s photography has earned him a very solid following online. He has over 644k fans on Instagram, as well as 137.6k additional followers over on Twitter. However, some people take issue with Roman’s photos, believing that deep-sea creatures should be left alone and shouldn’t be brought up to the water surface. The photographer takes things in stride and says, “Politics is politics, but you have to fish.”
"These Are Real Starfish. But They Look Like Cookies"
Okay, I have to tell this story. When my brother was a toddler my dad went scuba diving and brought us back two perfect urchin seashells he found. They were beautiful, and we had never seen anything like it. My whole family looked on in horror as my brother looked at it, raised the seashell to his mouth and took a huge bite out of it. He thought it was a cookie, and was very disappointed. I ended up giving him my seashell to stop him from crying.
"It’s A Bering Shrimp"
Previously, Bored Panda wrote about various phobias related to water and the ocean and interviewed DSD Divemaster Alastair Bailey. He shared with us that he completely trusts his gear, so he never had any qualms or fears about learning to dive underwater.
"For me, it was just having faith in the equipment. Same as anything, you trust a microwave won't blow up in your face, or your car will start. Yeah, accidents happen but as long as you do everything correctly then you minimize those risks," he explained.
Halibut
No. Flat fishes like this one have a deformed-looking face, but it's normal. They're actually lying on their side, and they're born with one eye on each side, and in the first few months, the eye underneath moves up.
Load More Replies...That's the ugliest looking halibut I've seen, and I'm from Alaska. Also, our halibut are yummy, this one doesn't look tasty to me at all!
I agree I lived there too and it dont look like one of ours
Load More Replies...It's like a child drew the scariest fish they could think of and it came to life.
Heres a living one, they really do look like that! They like to lie in the sand with just their little eyes sticking out
Same guy who first ate raw oysters (that dude will eat ANYTHING on a dare).
Load More Replies...There's a reason it was considered a garbage fish. If people saw what they ate before they ordered they'd barf.
You should have taken the right angle. Now it looks deformed even though it isn't. It's a flatfish just like sole and plaice.
So are they like flounder where one of the eyes migrates to the 1 side? Is this a juvenile fish?
"Look, I had a lovely supper and all I said to my wife was 'Dear, that piece of halibut was good enough for Jehovah!'"
"The Point Is To Choose The Right Perspective! Then Ordinary Fish Will Look Like A Monster"
"The Right Angle Is The Most Important"
"I had a couple of people lying about their air when I first started guiding people. For me, it was scary because I didn't think people would be that stupid. Running out of air puts everyone in that group in a dangerous and stupid position," the DSD Divemaster revealed how some diving amateurs aren’t open and honest and this harms everyone.
Arctic Skate
Sclerocrangon Ferox⠀
"I have had a person start vomiting underwater while guiding a group and other stupid behavior or panicked divers, but you train and get taught how to deal with those things which makes it more manageable. I have never had a gear failure, ripped hose, broken regulator, or anything, so all in all pretty lucky," he said.
"I had a humpback whale swim over us which was pretty awesome," the diver said. "And diving with manta rays is always stunning. Unfortunately, I have never found any treasure, but I have found some shark's teeth."
Anemones
"I Don’t Know What It Was... Maybe Sea Anemone. Looks Pretty And Unusual. Soft To The Touch"
Haddock
Although the photos are amazing, they hint to us how much damage we do to the environment. Undoubtedly, these creatures would have liked to stay where they belong.
I share that sentiment as well. Plus, I'm actually curious to see these in their intended natural habitat, maybe in motion too. Would be cool if they could put a camera there, connected to a screen and remote controller on the boat/ship, and then they pull it back out of the sea when done with the photos/videos.
Load More Replies...Sad to see of many of these creatures who are living on the bottom, or stuck to the bottom of the sea are out of the water. This bottom trawling fishing is extremely bad for the seas.
It destroys entire biomes and leaves only ruin and death in its wake.
Load More Replies...I agree with everyone saying it's a shame many of these fish had to die. We should not be fishing in such deep waters. We are the monsters here, not them.
I’m sorry but this post just made me very very sad. I understand that he says they occasionally throw fish back, but even then the ones that have come from the very depths would not survive the journey back down. The ONLY reason they are catching so many deep deep sea fish is because of the trawling that goes on, they literally scrape the bottom and scoop up whatever gets in the way!! Insanely damaging to the ocean and insanely wasteful to the thousands ( perhaps hundreds of thousands) of “bycatch”. If this was a post about all the creatures that live in the deepest rainforest, people would freak out!! Why do we treat fish and marine animals any differently? They just want to live their life and not be stolen away and worse. I could not even get past the second photo, though I read the text, to see if they did in fact release any. Not very often it seems. Nope, this post was far more upsetting than interesting.😞
I agree! These posts should be banned from this site! Dead creatures only for likes and attention is not okay
Load More Replies...So I'm looking at all these fish and ocean creatures... And let me preface this by saying I've done enough inspection of catches, both commercial and private party catches, to know these fish are not good. That is, either they have been sitting in a net for too long and are damaged - so his nets are probably set out for weeks and then pulled or these fish are sick and not doing well. You can tell as the fins are very sad, there are wounds on the skin, some have tumors (cancer or infection), fish should not look like this even if they are deep sea fish coming up fast. I am... Why photograph your catch which tells a story that is not flattering?
Is there a chance they float up because they were already damaged? Like beaching whales?
Load More Replies...I feel sorry for those animals that were forced out of their natural habitat. Some of them must have died a pretty painful death :(
90 images of animal abuse. There are good ways to see deep sea creatures, like underwater photography. Then you also get to see them when they are normal and aren't torn apart by the pressure change.
Stop flattering your unnecessary catches.. Leave this poor animals in their own natural habitat. You don't have any right to disturb them from their homes. I don't understand this humans who can't stop bragging for popularity by harming such creatures. If you wanna show the world do it in their natural habitat probably.
Id rather see them alive and swimming around than dead and sort of collapsed like the blobfish 😬
For all who are upset these guys are dead, if you buy fish from bottom trawlers (Pollock, flat fish- but not halibut) this is part of the price. I worked as a marine biologist on these boats to quantify the bycatch. If you don't want to actively contribute to this damage, don't eat seafood or buy from fisheries in an educated way. No market would make no bycatch. It's that simple.
I feel a tad bit good for not eating sea food.. Just locally available fishes.
Load More Replies...I am disturbed about why does he have to manhandle or take them out of water? I have seen many of these, just a picture will do.
Because by the time they bother to come back to check the nets, everyone's beaten themselves to death trying to escape a slow, torturous death.
Load More Replies...Why even post this if you want him to stop! It's just putting it out there like he does!
Yeah I agree, this kind of thing is making me consider abandoning this site. One more fight about he/she they/it is all it'll take after this carp.
Load More Replies...Please just take pictures in the sea/ocean. If everyone does this we'll have nothing left!!
Please stop taking these living beings from their home. So there are probably thousands of deep sea animals that haven't been discovered yet. So what? They were thriving on this planet long before us. Let them be!
Totally agree with the sentiment. Some fascinating photos. But I'm more distracted by the environmental damage caused in the process. It's kinda like - hey, looks at this weird stuff we found in the rainforest. Yeah, we had to destroy several hundred acres in the process, but aren't they COOL? Nup. Rainforest was happy and beautiful as it was thank you.
The writer's last name looks like it should have far more than just one accent.
I didn't watch the pictures, I scrolled down because I have no need to watch needlessly killed animals that only serve to gain likes on social media.
I wonder if any of these wonderful animals are able to be saved during processing because quite frankly, I think they should try.
If you read the post you'll see he admitted that practically all of them are dead by the time they haul them in.
Load More Replies...I stopped reading after #8. Human beings are horrible. I'm sick inside.
It’s too bad he couldn’t somehow snap photos of them in their natural environment instead of killing them to satisfy our curiosity.
Didn't you read anything here? He's trawling which indiscriminately kills everything, edible or not. They consider this "by-catch" an "accident" of the way they're "fishing".
Load More Replies...Incredible. Such a vast number I've never heard of or seen before. I only wish they had all been identified.
It's better to Google "weird fish" or something similar, then professionally researched animal pictures with information come up without boosting some jerks ego with attention & "likes".
Load More Replies...Wow, these sea creatures were incredible. Most of them were ugly from a human perspective, but when God created them, all it is is variety. There's no ugly in God's eyes.
I like your thinking. Idk why people downvote you but I give you an upvote 😁
Load More Replies...Thank you for this post, which reinforced me that I will never go into the sea again unless I can see all the way to the bottom to make sure some such monster isn't swimming underneath me :)
You will maybe have the chance to see one of them near 20 meters deep if you have your diving licence... the others... you need to have a submarine.
Load More Replies...Most fish don't look like that and they look very different when in their own environment at the proper pressure. These look like crăp carp because they just died while being crushed and thrashed while thrashing around trying to escape a slow, tortured death.
Load More Replies...Although the photos are amazing, they hint to us how much damage we do to the environment. Undoubtedly, these creatures would have liked to stay where they belong.
I share that sentiment as well. Plus, I'm actually curious to see these in their intended natural habitat, maybe in motion too. Would be cool if they could put a camera there, connected to a screen and remote controller on the boat/ship, and then they pull it back out of the sea when done with the photos/videos.
Load More Replies...Sad to see of many of these creatures who are living on the bottom, or stuck to the bottom of the sea are out of the water. This bottom trawling fishing is extremely bad for the seas.
It destroys entire biomes and leaves only ruin and death in its wake.
Load More Replies...I agree with everyone saying it's a shame many of these fish had to die. We should not be fishing in such deep waters. We are the monsters here, not them.
I’m sorry but this post just made me very very sad. I understand that he says they occasionally throw fish back, but even then the ones that have come from the very depths would not survive the journey back down. The ONLY reason they are catching so many deep deep sea fish is because of the trawling that goes on, they literally scrape the bottom and scoop up whatever gets in the way!! Insanely damaging to the ocean and insanely wasteful to the thousands ( perhaps hundreds of thousands) of “bycatch”. If this was a post about all the creatures that live in the deepest rainforest, people would freak out!! Why do we treat fish and marine animals any differently? They just want to live their life and not be stolen away and worse. I could not even get past the second photo, though I read the text, to see if they did in fact release any. Not very often it seems. Nope, this post was far more upsetting than interesting.😞
I agree! These posts should be banned from this site! Dead creatures only for likes and attention is not okay
Load More Replies...So I'm looking at all these fish and ocean creatures... And let me preface this by saying I've done enough inspection of catches, both commercial and private party catches, to know these fish are not good. That is, either they have been sitting in a net for too long and are damaged - so his nets are probably set out for weeks and then pulled or these fish are sick and not doing well. You can tell as the fins are very sad, there are wounds on the skin, some have tumors (cancer or infection), fish should not look like this even if they are deep sea fish coming up fast. I am... Why photograph your catch which tells a story that is not flattering?
Is there a chance they float up because they were already damaged? Like beaching whales?
Load More Replies...I feel sorry for those animals that were forced out of their natural habitat. Some of them must have died a pretty painful death :(
90 images of animal abuse. There are good ways to see deep sea creatures, like underwater photography. Then you also get to see them when they are normal and aren't torn apart by the pressure change.
Stop flattering your unnecessary catches.. Leave this poor animals in their own natural habitat. You don't have any right to disturb them from their homes. I don't understand this humans who can't stop bragging for popularity by harming such creatures. If you wanna show the world do it in their natural habitat probably.
Id rather see them alive and swimming around than dead and sort of collapsed like the blobfish 😬
For all who are upset these guys are dead, if you buy fish from bottom trawlers (Pollock, flat fish- but not halibut) this is part of the price. I worked as a marine biologist on these boats to quantify the bycatch. If you don't want to actively contribute to this damage, don't eat seafood or buy from fisheries in an educated way. No market would make no bycatch. It's that simple.
I feel a tad bit good for not eating sea food.. Just locally available fishes.
Load More Replies...I am disturbed about why does he have to manhandle or take them out of water? I have seen many of these, just a picture will do.
Because by the time they bother to come back to check the nets, everyone's beaten themselves to death trying to escape a slow, torturous death.
Load More Replies...Why even post this if you want him to stop! It's just putting it out there like he does!
Yeah I agree, this kind of thing is making me consider abandoning this site. One more fight about he/she they/it is all it'll take after this carp.
Load More Replies...Please just take pictures in the sea/ocean. If everyone does this we'll have nothing left!!
Please stop taking these living beings from their home. So there are probably thousands of deep sea animals that haven't been discovered yet. So what? They were thriving on this planet long before us. Let them be!
Totally agree with the sentiment. Some fascinating photos. But I'm more distracted by the environmental damage caused in the process. It's kinda like - hey, looks at this weird stuff we found in the rainforest. Yeah, we had to destroy several hundred acres in the process, but aren't they COOL? Nup. Rainforest was happy and beautiful as it was thank you.
The writer's last name looks like it should have far more than just one accent.
I didn't watch the pictures, I scrolled down because I have no need to watch needlessly killed animals that only serve to gain likes on social media.
I wonder if any of these wonderful animals are able to be saved during processing because quite frankly, I think they should try.
If you read the post you'll see he admitted that practically all of them are dead by the time they haul them in.
Load More Replies...I stopped reading after #8. Human beings are horrible. I'm sick inside.
It’s too bad he couldn’t somehow snap photos of them in their natural environment instead of killing them to satisfy our curiosity.
Didn't you read anything here? He's trawling which indiscriminately kills everything, edible or not. They consider this "by-catch" an "accident" of the way they're "fishing".
Load More Replies...Incredible. Such a vast number I've never heard of or seen before. I only wish they had all been identified.
It's better to Google "weird fish" or something similar, then professionally researched animal pictures with information come up without boosting some jerks ego with attention & "likes".
Load More Replies...Wow, these sea creatures were incredible. Most of them were ugly from a human perspective, but when God created them, all it is is variety. There's no ugly in God's eyes.
I like your thinking. Idk why people downvote you but I give you an upvote 😁
Load More Replies...Thank you for this post, which reinforced me that I will never go into the sea again unless I can see all the way to the bottom to make sure some such monster isn't swimming underneath me :)
You will maybe have the chance to see one of them near 20 meters deep if you have your diving licence... the others... you need to have a submarine.
Load More Replies...Most fish don't look like that and they look very different when in their own environment at the proper pressure. These look like crăp carp because they just died while being crushed and thrashed while thrashing around trying to escape a slow, tortured death.
Load More Replies...