Ugly, scary, or just misunderstood? Meet the wildest faces in the ocean!
Fish have an amazing variety of faces—and expressions—that we sometimes interpret as ugly, beautiful, scary, happy, or sad. Check out the face of this deep-sea hatchet fish, a creature that is no doubt considered very handsome by others of its kind.
The underside of this ray looks like a face, but the “eyes” are really part of its nostrils. The ray doesn’t breathe air, but it does hunt by scent, and its snout is sensitive. The ray’s real eyes are on top of its flat body, so it only sees the world above it. Here you’re seeing its mouth, which is horny and adapted to crunching shellfish. The openings under the mouth are gills, not a fancy necklace!
Some fish hide out on the ocean floor, and you can just barely see their faces!
Some fish have real weapons on their heads. Other fish only appear to!
This is no praying mantis eyeing you—it’s a mantis shrimp. Its eyes are on moveable stalks, and it can retract them when threatened. The mantis shrimp is an excellent hunter. It burrows in the sand, waits for its prey, then quickly nabs worms and other small marine creatures with a large pincer that unfolds like a jackknife. These shrimp are so fierce that they’ve earned the nickname “thumpsplitters”!
Strange face — When you see the trunk-snout on this fish, it isn’t too difficult to imagine where the elephant fish got its name. The elephant fish is truly unique—there are no other members of this fish family. Its skin is scaleless and has a velvety texture. Despite its exotic appearance, the elephant fish frequents some pretty unremarkable places, like sandy or muddy areas of the ocean floor throughout the Southern Hemisphere.
Source: Microsoft Oceans (1995) CD-ROM. Text liberated from original screen art; images, audio & clips restored from disc. Original media is Microsoft/supplier copyright — non-commercial educational preservation. Credits & Acknowledgements