13 Deep-Sea Animals That’ll Scare the Crap Out of You!

I was perusing the cyberpages over at NationalGeographic.com when I just about fell off my chair at these photos…

(Polychaete worm found 3,900 feet [1,200 meters] down on the muddy seafloor)

Scientists spotted the creature—and many others—during a three-week expedition this spring throughout four deep-sea regions in the volcano-rich Kermadec Ridge area off northern New Zealand.

(Squat lobster. Can’t wait for the new B-52s song by the same name!)

The squat lobster of the Uroptychus genus isn’t the first known specimen of its kind, but its species hasn’t yet been formally recognized

(Trichopeltarion janetae, aka the Hairy Crab)

 Scientists located the small hairy crab Trichopeltarion janetae amid rocks on the summit of the 3,000-foot-deep (900-meter-deep) Tangaroa Seamount.

(The aptly named Tonguefish)

The Tangaroa Seamount offered up a new species of tonguefish in the Symphurus genus.

NationalGeographic.com also offered new photos of disturbingly huge shrimp!

(Quite a handful, and no mistake!)

The largest amphipod measured in at 11 inches long (28 centimeters)—nearly three times larger than the previous record-holder—and was captured at a depth of about 4.35 miles (7 kilometers).

(The belly of the beast!)

While the other critters pictured were from the Kermadec Ridge, the super-jumbo-giant-colossal-humungo-mega-shrimp were from down on the floor of the Kermadec Trench, an abysmal rift in the seafloor that sinks down 6.2 miles (10 kilometers).

It’s not yet clear whether the newfound giants represent a new species or just especially big supergiant amphipods.

I am SO going to have the heebie-jeebies [1] in bed tonight thinking of these things!

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[1] Heebie-jeebies or heebie jeebies is an American English idiom often used to describe intense anxiety. This can be    a particular type of anxiety usually related to a certain person, thing or place. For example, “He gives me the heebie jeebies”, meaning “He makes me uncomfortably nervous”. It can also refer to a particular form of intense apprehension, verging on horror.