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You don't need to go to space to explore places that no man has ever been to. Recently, an international team of scientists went on the world's first survey to explore marine biodiversity in the abyssal waters off the east coast of Australia.

The abyssal zone is a layer of the ocean at depths of 13,000 to 20,000 ft (4,000 to 6,000 metres). This zone remains in perpetual darkness. The temperature there is around 36 to 37 °F (2-3 °C) and it's a very food-limited environment. "The abyss is the largest and deepest habitat on the planet, covering half the world's oceans and one-third of Australia's territory, but it remains the most unexplored environment on Earth," said Museums Victoria senior curator Tim O'Hara on the voyage's departure.

The researchers divided themselves into two shifts (2:00─14:00 and 14:00─2:00). Tirelessly sending their equipment nearly 16,000 foot deep, they hauled over 100 different species aboard their vessel, the Investigator. Five of them are thought to have never been discovered before!

Processing the catch involved separating different species, photographing the creepy specimens to record their colors, extracting muscle samples for DNA analysis, and so on. Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) ichthyologist John Pogonoski claimed they spent many hours processing the samples. According to him, the voyage is nothing less than "frontier science" that will undoubtedly increase our understanding of the deep-sea. The scientists are still busy preserving the finds for museums around the world. They will be available for research in the future as well. While everyone's waiting for CSIRO Australian National Fish Conference (ANFC) where names to these faceless critters will be given, scroll down and check out some of the spookiest from the whole gang.

More info: nespmarine.edu.au

This post may include affiliate links.

#1

Red Spiny Crab

Red Spiny Crab

This bright red spiny crab sports an armour of spikes which protect it from the dangers of the deep.

These are not actually true crabs but related more to hermit crabs – although this hermit has traded in its shell for gnarly spikes.

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#2

Coffinfish

Coffinfish

This mysterious little deep-sea coffinfish, with its bluish eyes and red feet, belongs to the anglerfish group. It is potentially a new species.

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#3

Glass Sponge

Glass Sponge

These incredible glass sponges have a skeleton made of a lattice of silica filaments, some of which can be up to a metre long.

They feed by sifting bacteria and other single-celled organisms from the water gently passing over their delicate glass housing.

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#4

Peanut Worm

Peanut Worm

The peanut worm (Sipuncula) is a deep-sea worm resembling a phallus.

When threatened, they can contract their long head inwards and look more like a peanut. They can reproduce both sexually and asexually.

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glowworm2 avatar
glowworm2
glowworm2
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6 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I was about to say, that worm DOES not look like a peanut but rather like something else.;)

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InnocentLookingPervert
InnocentLookingPervert
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6 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

imagine swiming then seeing a sea d**k go by

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Master Markus
Master Markus
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6 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Just call them dildo worms, then we can all be happy.

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Tammy Chapman
Tammy Chapman
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6 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I still like the Prickworm or the Sea D**k, and someone called it a flying d**k...I guess like it's a flying fish or something. Can you imagine being out on a boat somewhere and these things just start flying into your boat and smacking you upside the head? Thank God it's in the deep sea. I don't ever plan on visiting there.

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Dian Ella Lillie
Dian Ella Lillie
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6 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Yeah, I think that they meant 'penis worm' but autocorrect changed it to 'peanut'.

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Dian Ella Lillie
Dian Ella Lillie
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6 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Really?! 'Peanut' worm was the best that they could come up with?

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Dian Ella Lillie
Dian Ella Lillie
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6 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

That said, imagine saying to a guy "oo, that looks just like a peanut worm!" Some guys would probably need counselling afterward...

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Wina Alkerchief
Wina Alkerchief
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6 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

The number of comment in this picture is bigger than the rest of the pictures.. Well, i guess they just can't resist arent they...

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SnowyLynx
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6 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I prefer to call things what they are; in this case the Penis worm

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Laugh Fan
Laugh Fan
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6 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Who would have thought that 'look' would crop up naturally in another species...

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Tor Rolf Strøm
Tor Rolf Strøm
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6 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Well, it looks like something that starts with a p... Peanut? ALRIGHT THEN!

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Sione M
Sione M
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6 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

It shrinks into a peanut when its scared lol, and it takes the saying "go f#%k yourself" very literally, as it can mate by itself to reproduce.

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Lovro Velimirovic
Lovro Velimirovic
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6 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Omg a terfffiying creature it can turn into the shape of a peanut! Dinosaurs aint got nothing on this

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Alvin J Frazier
Alvin J Frazier
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6 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

i'm not in 3rd grade anymore, so i'll just walk past the obvious... but... you you know what i'm thinking

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Carol Roeder
Carol Roeder
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6 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I see no peanut there at all! Now you want to call it the wee we worm, that's fine with me!

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David Gallagher
David Gallagher
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6 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

How do they produce "asexually?" What does that mean? Please explain because biology was never my thing.

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GiantSpaceTiger
GiantSpaceTiger
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6 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

They can reproduce asexually.. so.. just form a circle? Not everyday that you get a chance to say "go eff yourself" to something that looks as though it would relish the opportunity!

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birdhouse
birdhouse
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6 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Peanut Worm?? More like Penis Worm!! Come on, you were all thinking it too!

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Rachel Krug
Rachel Krug
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6 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I think they misspelled it. I know its a penis worm! 😂😂

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Susan Gardner
Susan Gardner
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6 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

"They can contract their long head inwards and look more like a peanut." Yep sounds about right lol

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maskenthoe
maskenthoe
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6 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

don't you people see? God is very CREATIVE! there is sea coconut, Lodoicea, look like vagina, and this worm look like penis! God is sooooo CREATIVE! praise to God!

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Surya Amriza
Surya Amriza
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6 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Why not naming it Phallus Worm instead? Even in the description given it states the worm resembles a phallus.

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Jane Alexander
Jane Alexander
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6 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Perhaps that is the infamous 'prick-o-saurus' from the movie 'Flesh Gordon'?

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Joe Tilden
Joe Tilden
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6 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

When a dildo gets thrown out into a lake but falls in radioactive waste.

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#5

Cookiecutter Shark

Cookiecutter Shark

This nasty little bioluminescent shark, with its neatly arranged serrated teeth, inhabits the oceanic “twilight zone” in depths of up to 1,000 metres.

It preys on big fishes, whales, dolphins and the occasional unfortunate swimmer, latching onto them before gouging out cookie-sized chunks of flesh.

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Final score:
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Dian Ella Lillie
Dian Ella Lillie
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6 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Please, it's not "nasty." That's a human value-judgement . These things are meant to be doing what they do in their ecological niche. It might not be nice for the prey species, but that's differnt to being "nasty."

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#6

Lizard Fish

Lizard Fish

Being the dominant predator of the depths isn't easy though: at depths of 1000–2500 metres there is very little food, so lizard fish are few are far between to maximise scarce resources.

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#7

Blob Fish

Blob Fish

This blob fish was collected from a depth of 2.5 kilometres off New South Wales.

It has soft watery flesh and is an ambush predator that lies very still on the bottom, waiting for unsuspecting prey to pass by.

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#8

'Faceless' Fish

'Faceless' Fish

With no eyes, the “faceless” fish was found four kilometres below the surface.

The species was first collected in the northern Coral Sea more than 140 years ago during the voyage of HMS Challenger, the world’s first round-the-world oceanographic expedition. It has been rediscovered in Australia after more than a century.

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#9

Corallimorph

Corallimorph

These coral organisms belong to the same group as anemones, jelly fish, hard corals and other tentacled creatures of the sea.

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#10

Brittle Star

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.

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#11

Dumbo Octopus

Dumbo Octopus

Dumbo octopus flap 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.

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Janine B.
Janine B.
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6 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

It looks rather cute underwater. So sad they had to take it.

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#12

Zombie Worm

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.

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Final score:
70points
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JMQ
JMQ
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6 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Jesus f**k. These things are gonna start the zombie apocalypse

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#13

Giant Anemone-Sucking Sea Spiders

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.

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Final score:
66points
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#14

Herd Of Sea Pigs

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.

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65points
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#15

Pancake Urchin

Pancake Urchin

These round discs of concentrated urchin are not actually flat in their natural habitat.

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#16

Flesh-Eating Crustaceans

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.

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#17

Tripod Fish

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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Final score:
53points
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