8 Rather Scary Fish

We've already featured the rarest fish, the most dangerous fish and the strange deep sea fish, now it's onto the scary fish. Granted many of the deep sea creatures were some of the scariest fish I've seen. But with that said there are many others which happen to be just as ghastly and yet are not deep sea fish.

I can assure you that I'd much rather handle the presence of a majestic looking dangerous marine creature than come to face to face with one of these scary fish, antenna like features protruding from their heads, teeth sharp enough to puncture skin with ease and just overall scariness! In fact most of these fish look more like aliens than fish at all, and one can be forgiven for questioning the authenticity of their existence.

Photo by New Zealand Government

Humpback Anglerfish

Starting off with a bang is the humpback anglerfish, which quite honestly scares the hell out of me. The humpback anglerfish's distinguishing characteristics include it's lantern type feature on it's head which makes use of bioluminescence, it's extremely sharp teeth which protrude like nails out of its jaw, as well as it's utterly creepy skin which can be likened to those children’s toys where you would get the coloured goos which would end up ruining the material chair... You know the ones.

Personally the skin is what really gets to me, I've seen plenty of fish with large teeth and a few which make the use of bioluminescence, but how often do you find a fish which looks like a co-star in The Blob.

One of the most interesting aspects of the humpback anglerfish, and also one of the scariest is the way the humpback anglerfish mates. The male fish, unlike the female humpback angler is smaller than your thumb and his role in existence is to find a female fish following the female scent in the hopes of finding her and attaching himself to her and live by drinking her blood while his mouth begins to fuse with her body and essentially eventually rendering him as a pair of gonads upon the female, which will release sperm. This fish by far takes the cake as the scariest fish in existence.

For an entertaining illustration on the breeding process check out - http://theoatmeal.com/comics/angler (Some offensive language)

Photo by Fishind

Blobfish

Oh wait! If the anglerfish was the co-star of The Blob, I think we've found the star. Possibly the saddest fish ever to exist? The blobfish is a pretty scary fish, it has a 'nose' that puts Owen Wilson to shame and actually doesn't have the muscles requires for a fish to swim. Instead the blobfish has a somewhat similar gelatinous body to that of the anglerfish, and instead of swimming it floats along without control and eats whatever edible matter happens to pass in front of it.

They are limited to the extremely deep waters off Australia and Tasmania, and is actually under thread due to the bottom trawling which takes place in these areas. They are very rarely seen by humans because of these deep depths where they primarily exist.

I'm still undecided if the blobfish is more of a scary fish or a funny fish. If I were to encounter one of these guys underwater I'm not sure if I'd be screaming of laughing, as it floats along with its "Nobody loves me" face grasping at the possible edible matter floating around. In fact I actually feel sorry for the blobfish. But pity aside, it sure is a pretty scary looking thing.

Photo by Dailycognition

Black Lizardfish

Laughs are thrown aside for this fish, the black lizardfish. I've featured this before as one of the strangest deep sea creatures and not only does it deserve it's place there, it definitely earns a spot on the scary fish list.

The black lizardfish is generally found at some epic depths in the southern hemisphere. It isn't that large, measuring in at only around 30 centimeters, but it has razor sharp teeth which make it pretty scary already. Seeing one of these fish speeding towards you, eyes luminated and teeth baring down upon you would certainly be an unpleasant situation- luckily for you though the black lizardfish generally lives in depths of 1500 to 3000 feet.

Photo by Wikimedia Commons

Fangtooth Fish

With proportionately the largest teeth out of all other fish, it is easy to see where the fangtooth gets its name from. And while I'd love to go on about how dangerous and nightmarish the fangtooth is, the reality is that despite it being physically, a completely scary fish- the fangtooth only grows to lengths up 16 centimeters, leaving it harmless to humans. But you can just pretend that it's much larger and threatening! The fangtooth most certainly is scary though, and after staring at its image I began to feel a little intimidated.

An interesting topic to note is the evolutionary process with this fish, because of the evolutionary development of longer and longer teeth for the fangtooth, they have also evolved a special area inside above the mouth on either side of its brain, where the teeth slide into when the mouth is closed.

Again with the fangtooth it's a case of a deep sea fish which can usually be found at depths in excess of 600 feet right down to 7000 or so feet.

Photo by Suda on Flickr

Viperfish

Another familiar face from the deep sea creatures article, the viperfish is a creepy bugger that can grow up to 60 centimeters in length (over half a meter) and has a hinged jaw with needle-like teeth. This fish is sometimes even found at depths which can be reached by advanced divers, though generally stays around 100 meters depth. They ascend to shallower waters during the night time. The viperfish is a bit of a mystery though, due to the fact that one cannot keep a viperfish in depths under 30 meters for more than a couple hours without the viperfish dying.

Photo by NOAA

Snaggletooth Fish

No, not a character from a disappointing Star Wars movie. The snaggletooth fish is deep water predator which uses a sneaky tactic in catching it's prey. The snaggletooth has a type of luminous lure which extends from its chin, this is then used to attract prey to within a distance where they can attack.

This is one of the larger scary fish and can measure in excess of 60 centimeters. They are found in the waters around Australia and New Zealand, but are also quite rare. They do not have scales like most fish but instead have distinctive luminous purple colouring along their sides. Their skin is also notably soft.

Photo by Wikimedia Commons

Frogfish

I know what you're thinking, "How can a frogfish be put on here, they look pretty normal". Well no, no they do not- In fact for the few that don't know, a frogfish is a type of anglerfish and we all know how creepy anglerfish are from the humpback anglerfish above. I personally find frogfish particularly scary fish. I do not trust any animal which evolves into a clone of another piece of marine life. I like to think of them as the wizards of the water world.

Quite frankly I'm quite creeped out by all frogfish, but there are some species of frogfish which creepy me out that bit more. Striated frogfish are of the scariest frogfish to me. And unlike most of the fish on this list the frogfish can be found at most diving depths. I can just picture moving alongside a reef examining the coral formations and getting too close to an invisible frogfish, only to be greeted with the words "Thou shalt not pass".

Photo by Wikimedia Commons

Giant Isopod

Okay now I'm cheating a bit as this isn't technically a fish and more just a marine creature, but I think it needs to be put on the list of scary fish due to the fact that it would scare the hell out of me if it happened to start walking up my leg. It looks more like an alien life form which will ravage the earth than a type of marine life, though it must be said many of these deep sea creatures appear more alien than worldly.

The giant isopod is related to pill bugs that you can find in your garden under a small log just under the sand. Now imagine that innocent little bag magnified thousands of times and found 200+ meters under the water’s surface and weighing in at over 1 1/2 kilograms. The giant isopod uses the same defensive mechanism as the pill bug too, which involves rolling itself into a ball and using its strong exterior as its defense.