When thinking of scary creatures for Halloween, people usually think of the traditional monsters like Frankenstein’s monster, vampires, zombies, and witches, but there are actual real life creatures that are always ready for the spooky season. These creatures can be found in the depths of the ocean, and while they may look scary, most of them are harmless.
Vampire Squid
While it may have the word vampire in its name, the vampire squid doesn’t suck the blood out of its prey. This deep sea creature was given its name from its dark red coloration, white eyes that almost look blue in different lighting, and its tentacles that look like they have spikes at the bottom. While it is a type of squid, it doesn’t ink when trying to escape a predator. Instead, it squirts out a cloud of glowing bioluminescent mucus to distract the predator while it escapes.
Red-Tooth Triggerfish
Sticking with the vampire theme, next is the red-tooth triggerfish. This tropical fish was recently observed for the first time in 2021, and the most interesting feature of it is its red front teeth that look similar to vampire fangs. So, while not much is known about this blue fish as of now, it is known that it feeds on mostly zooplankton, crustaceans, sea urchins, and mollusks.
Vampire Bat
The last vampire-themed creature is a real life vampire for animals. It’s called the vampire bat, and the reason it gets its name from is because its diet is made up of the blood of mammals, like cattle, horses, and pigs. These bats sense the body heat of an animal, and then they use their sharp incisor teeth to rip open a small piece of flesh to drink up about two tablespoons of blood.
ViperFish
This deep-sea fish has a belly full of bioluminescent lights to attract its prey. When the prey gets close enough, it closes its mouth, which is full of long sharp teeth that acts like a cage to trap its food. This fish lives around 200 to 1,000 meters below the surface, and it spends most of its time floating around to save energy when not hunting.
Lamprey
The lamprey is a parasitic creature that is usually called an eel because of its shape, but it’s actually a fish. Even though it may not look like a fish because it doesn’t have scales, fins, or gill covers, it is still considered one because it’s a vertebrae. They are an invasive species that invaded the Great Lakes around the 1830s where they ate the local fish population like trout, whitefish, perch, and sturgeon.
Goblin Shark
The goblin shark is found in the deepest parts of the ocean and can sense its way through special sensing organs in the snout. The thing that sets people off is the way it captures its food; when its food is near its mouth, it shoots its jaw out like a slingshot to capture it. It does this because the muscles in its mouth relax and extend, causing it to launch out and immediately close to keep the prey inside.
Shoebill Stork
These carnivorous giant birds can reach heights of up to 152 cm, and even though they have stork in their name, they’re actually more closely related to pelicans. They are found in freshwater swamps in places in Africa like South Sudan and Zambia. They have the third longest bill in the bird world, which allows it to grab and kill its prey after they ambush it.
Aye-Aye
The last creepy creature on this list is a nocturnal primate called an aye-aye. This creature has a set of large eyes similar to an owl’s, fingers that can grab like a raccoon, and a large tail. They find food by using their enhanced hearing to sense where insects are located in trees, and when they either find an opening, or have to make one by gnawing on the bark, they use their long fingers to collect them.
Now, it’s unlikely that you’ll run into any of these animals in day to day life, and a majority of them are harmless, but they seem ready to give a couple of scares this Halloween.
