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Animals of the Deep

From a fish with a transparent head to an adorable octopus with webbed arms, MBARI researchers have encountered some captivating creatures in more than three decades of deep-sea research. Meet some of our favorite denizens of the deep and learn about their adaptations to survive in an environment of frigid cold, inky darkness, and crushing pressure.

A deep purple abyssal comb jelly with folded mouth

Abyssal comb jelly

(Beroe abyssicola)

Angler siphonophore

(Erenna sirena)

Balloon worm

(Poeobius meseres)

Bamboo coral

(family Keratoisididae)

Barrel amphipod

(Phronima sedentaria)

Barreleye fish

(Macropinna microstoma)

A yellow basket star attached to a rock on the muddy deep seafloor and extending its curly arms into the water

Basket star

(Gorgonocephalus eucnemis)

Big red jelly

(Tiburonia granrojo)

Bloody-belly comb jelly

(Lampocteis cruentiventer)

Bomber worm

(Swima spp.)

A large pink fan-shaped coral with several smaller pink corals, white corals and yellow sponges in the background. This screen capture from underwater video shows corals attached to rocks covered in dark brown sediment, with dark water in the background.

Bubblegum coral

(Paragorgia arborea)

California sun star

(Rathbunaster californicus)

Common siphonophore

(Nanomia bijuga)

Deep-sea anglerfish

(order Lophiiformes)

A shark with a sleek brown body, long tail fin, and iridescent green eyes swims toward the right of the frame. The background is dark blue water.

Deep-sea catshark

(family Pentanchidae)

Deep-sea crown jelly

(Atolla spp.)

A skate with a pale-gray flat, diamond-shaped body, rounded wing-like fins, and a thin, curved tail rests on the brown muddy seafloor. The skate is facing the bottom left of the frame. There is a small orange crab at the bottom right of the frame.

Deep-sea skate

(Bathyraja spp.)

Deep-sea squid

(Bathyteuthis spp.)

A transparent jelly drifts in open water. The jelly has a purple, flat, plate-like bell with a wide margin. Half of the jelly’s stiff tentacles are being held above the bell, and half hang below the bell. The background is black water with numerous tiny white flecks of drifting organic material.

Dinner plate jelly

(Solmissus spp.)

Dragonfish

(family Stomiidae)

Fangtooth

(Anoplogaster cornuta)

A community of deep-sea sponges and corals grows in the currents on a seamount. In the center is a yellow vase-shaped sponge covered in bulbous finger-like projections. To the right is a round sponge that is white on the inside and covered in fine brown sediment. In the background are several brown branched bamboo corals, a white fan-shaped sponge, and greenish-black rock covered in fine brown sediment.

Fingered goblet sponge

(Heterochone calyx)

Flapjack octopus

(Opisthoteuthis spp.)

A cusk-eel with a white head, black eyes, thin white “whiskers,” and brown tapering body swims above the brown muddy seafloor. The fish is swimming to the right, toward the top of the frame, casting a large black shadow on the mud below.

Giant cusk-eel

(Spectrunculus grandis)

Giant phantom jelly

(Stygiomedusa gigantea)

Giant sea spider

(Colossendeis spp.)

Giant tubeworm

(Riftia pachyptila)

A transparent squid with a teardrop-shaped body and milky white internal organs. The squid is swimming downwards, with its white arms at the top and wavy fins at the bottom. This squid was photographed in open, black water.

Glass squid

(family Cranchiidae)

A transparent worm swims in open water. The worm has a tapered body with numerous paddle-like appendages on either side. Two long antennae extend from the worm’s head and a bright-blue knobby tail trails from its backside. The worm is swimming diagonally to the top of the image. The background is black water with numerous small white flecks of drifting organic material.

Gossamer worm

(Tomopteris spp.)

Harp sponge

(Chondrocladia lyra)

A peach-colored mushroom soft coral with flower-like polyps extended and waving in the currents. This individual was photographed on the bare, black, rocky slope of a seamount.

Mushroom soft coral

(Heteropolypus ritteri)

A transparent gelatinous sea slug drifts in open water. The sea slug has a cavernous hood facing the left side of the frame, pink organs inside its body, a muscular foot pointed to the bottom of the frame, and a paddle-shaped tail with several finger-like projections pointed away from the camera. The background is black water.

Mystery mollusc

(Bathydevius caudactylus)

A dark red squid with wide fins and black eyes drifts in the water column. The squid is facing the camera and holding its eight arms upright above its body. The arms are lined with light yellow hooks and have white tips. The background is dark blue water with a few yellow flecks of drifting organic debris.

Octopus squid

(Octopoteuthis deletron)

Pacific viperfish

(Chauliodus macouni)

A pale purple octopus with a large, round body, small black eyes, and eight thin arms sits on the brown muddy seafloor. The octopus is spreading its arms apart, holding them upwards to reveal a thin webbing between the base of the arms.

Pearl octopus

(Muusoctopus robustus)

A pigbutt worm with a peach-colored, dimpled balloon-like body drifts in a laboratory tank. The background is solid black.

Pigbutt worm

(Chaetopterus pugaporcinus)

A pink sea anemone with a round body and droopy tentacles that taper to a pointy tip. This screen capture from underwater video shows an animal nestled between rocks covered in greenish brown sediment and red brittle stars.

Pom-pom anemone

(Liponema brevicorne)

Pompeii worm

(Alvinella pompejana)

Psychedelic jelly

(Crossota millsae)

Rattail fish

(family Macrouridae)

Red siphonophore

(Marrus claudanielis)

Sea pig

(Scotoplanes spp.)

A bright blue silky jelly photographed in the lab against a black background

Silky jelly

(Colobonema sericeum)

A sea star covered in short, sharp spines with a dark-orange body and five arms climbs over a greenish-black rocky ledge covered in fuzzy brown encrusting invertebrates. A shallow rocky crevice cuts diagonally across the frame from the top left to the bottom right.

Spiny star

(Hippasteria spp.)

Strawberry squid

(Histioteuthis heteropsis)

Vampire squid

(Vampyroteuthis infernalis)

A pale purple octopus with a rounded body and long arms covered in warty bumps rests on the deep seafloor. This octopus is holding its coiled arms in front of its body. Thin, orange brittle stars are sitting on the brown mud around the octopus.

Warty deep-sea octopus

(Graneledone spp.)

Whalefish

(family Cetomimidae)

Whiptail gulper eel

(Saccopharynx lavenbergi)

A rope-like gelatinous siphonophore with a fuzzy white central stem stretching to the left and 12 transparent swimming bells pointed downwards. This animal was photographed in the water column with dark water and white flecks of organic material in the background.

Woolly siphonophore

(Apolemia lanosa)