The ocean is a vast empire with a wide variety of sea creatures, but most of them are overlooked and do not get any recognition. These creatures don’t live in the reefs with the popular sea animals; they live in the deep ocean or on the ocean floor. Those creatures usually look weird, but they are very unique.

One of these fish lives in very rocky habitats, this is the Atlantic Wolffish, which appears blue-ish gray in color and has multiple rows of teeth with a few sticking out.This fish, with its eel like body and dark vertical stripes, is a very cool sight to see. Another interesting fish is the Red Lipped Batfish, this fish is found on the sandy edges of reefs, and as its name suggests it has red lips. This marine creature appears light brown and grayish brown on its back and has a white belly.

The Longhorn Cowfish has many names such as horned boxfishes or trunkfish, and can be found in many colors including green, light orange, yellow, and sometimes have white or blue spots. They also have poisonous flesh, but one of its defining characteristics are its horns

which they use to dig up buried animals that would be hard to find like worms. This next fish is truly bizarre, it comes in many different colors like black, yellow, orange, pink, brown, and textures of sponges, coral, and rocks to camouflage into its surroundings. This finned creature is the Frogfish, but it can’t swim that far so it hops around on the ocean floor, like a frog which is how it got its name. 

Courtesy of National Geographic

The Stargazer is a fish that you can encounter on the ocean floor and you might not even see it. They stay hidden under the sand on the ocean floor, and have their eyes on their head which allows it to bury itself under the sand. Their electric fins on its back will cause an electric shock if you step on them. This next fish has scuba divers thinking twice, this is the Stonefish which looks like a stone. It can wait all day until another fish swims by close enough for the stone fish to lunge forward and swallow it whole. Since they are always still, some have even been seen with algae growing on them.  

The Pinecone fish is also known as the Knightfish or Crown fish due to its armor-like scales. It is also called the lighthouse fish because of its bio-luminescent organs that are reminiscent of the navigation lights on ships. Though the Jawfish sounds creepy it is actually a small fish that can grow up to four inches. They live in patches of sand and coral rubble around the edges of reefs. Since there is no place to hide, they have to create burrows when danger is near. But one cool thing is that they use their large mouths to scoop up sand. This next fish is related to the angler fish. 

Just like the Frogfish, the Handfish walks in its hands instead of swimming. However their “hands” are much bigger, and they do not camouflage into their surroundings.They are also on the smaller side reaching only 5 inches at max. The Pacific Barreleye fish or the Spook fish, is almost alien like. They have transparent heads that reveal their eyes, brain, and other organs. Another interesting fact is that even though it looks like their eyes are on the front of their head like normal, they actually point up ninety degrees to look through their clear heads.