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Category: Animal of the Deep

Glass squid

Transparency keeps glass squids safe in the twilight zone.

Mushroom soft coral

animal Type Maximum Size 15 cm (6 inches) across Depth 200–1,200 m (660–3,900 feet) Habitat Seafloor seamounts, submarine canyons, and rocky outcroppings Diet Plankton and small crustaceans Range Northeastern Pacific Ocean from California to Mexico About https://youtu.be/W8FjSb5fU6Q This coral is one of the nicest neighbors you could hope for. The mushroom soft coral (Heteropolypus ritteri) …

Deep-sea catshark

Deep-sea catsharks have keen senses to find food on the seafloor.

Silky jelly

When danger approaches, the silky jelly uses speed and clever tricks to make a quick escape.

Basket star

Deep-sea basket stars wriggle an impressive array of arms to snare a meal of plankton from ocean currents.

Abyssal comb jelly

This predator’s pretty pink color is clever camouflage.

Barrel amphipod

The midwater is a vast expanse of water between the surface and the seafloor.

Common siphonophore

The common siphonophore is a sit-and-wait predator that casts stinging tentacles to capture krill and other plankton.

Deep-sea squid

The deep-sea squid (Bathyteuthis sp.) is unusual among squids. Instead of laying egg cases on the seafloor or releasing a drifting egg mass, females brood their developing offspring.

Strawberry squid

The strawberry squid has one big eye and one small eye. Together, this improbable pair helps the squid hunt for food in the ocean’s twilight zone.