While everyone seems to linger on the playful dolphins and multicoloured blue whales, has anyone recently stopped to think about the poor snail or mollusc? Well, it was the year 2019, when a Maine lobster caught the record-equalling Angora lobster of cotton candy, thus awakening in us the realisation that these ocean creatures are indeed often unfairly underrated beauties. Lobsters are named and praised for their happy shell that sports intense blue, red, and crimson.” What other beautiful sea creatures are out there if such a lovely species lurks in the water? Lets explore about…
Unexpectedly Beautiful Sea Creatures
Nudibranch
You probably know nudibranchs by their informal call: sea slugs. These light-bodied marine mollusks include more than 3,000 species and live in seas worldwide, from warm tropical seas to Canada’s three cold oceans.
Nudibranchs can come in a variety of bright, beautiful colors and styles. This is a protective mechanism due to the loss of their shell. They resemble the flowers around them to camouflage themselves from predators. National Geographic magazine photographer David Doubilet once called them “the haute couture models” of all ocean creatures.
Plus, bright colors ward off potential dangers, as they often signal that a creature is toxic (even if it isn’t). Amazingly, these animals can absorb the pigment of their prey into their tissue, which “allows them to camouflage themselves while feeding on the very animals they eat.”
Coconut Octopus
The coconut octopus is considered one of the most intelligent invertebrates in the animal kingdom. It makes impressive use of tools, including coconut shells, to hide and protect itself from predators. (A captivating demonstration of this self-defense tactic can be seen in the 2020 documentary, “My Octopus Instructor,” though that was a regular octopus, not a coconut octopus.)
Although it doesn’t hide away in a self-made bunker, the coconut octopus is an impressive sea creature. Its appearance is superb in its contrast between light and dark tones. The textured pattern on its main body is reminiscent of snakeskin, and light-colored suckers appear beneath the darker frame as this cephalopod swims and even walks along the ocean floor. They are found in the tropical waters of the western Pacific Ocean.
Brittle Star
Carefully associated with starfish, brittle stars glide across the seafloor thanks to their long, slender arms. Their splendor can be attributed to their symmetry, with each arm jutting out from a crucial disk. Brittle stars, also known as snake stars, are far bolder and more dynamic in movement. They are sleek and wormlike, affording them a freestyle of slinking toward where they want to go.
Neatly equipped with a five-jawed mouth. Some have what you might like to refer to as a regenerative capacity. They usually hide under rocks or in crevices during the day and come out to feed at night.
Mantis Shrimp
This stomatopod is neither a shrimp nor a mantis, measuring just 10 cm long. With a long, colorful body and large, bright eyes, the mantis shrimp attracts attention.
However, this sea creature is more dangerous than it looks. It uses its small but powerful clubs to break the shells of its prey with blows with the force of a .22-caliber bullet. When studying them, scientists must keep mantis shrimp in thick plastic tanks because their powerful blows can shatter glass. Even the Guinness Book of World Records claims that the mantis shrimp is the most powerful fish in the animal world.
Leafy Sea Dragon
Although they look like pieces of seaweed, the leafy sea dragon is a fish more closely related to the pipefish than to a seahorse. Although considered an intermediate species between the two of three so-called “leafy fishes,” these creatures are the kings of camouflage, living among the algae and seaweed in the waters of southern and eastern Australia.
The fluid protrusions may look like functional appendages, but the leafy sea dragon uses thin, barely visible fins to propel itself through the water. Most impressively, this beautiful sea creature can change color to match its surroundings and better camouflage itself.
Flying Dog
The flying dog is most marvelous for its “wingspan.” Leafy fishes typically keep their massive pectoral fins close to their bodies, but open them spectacularly when a predator is near. The transparency of the fins combined with the colorful blue spots that adorn them make this creature particularly beautiful underwater.
Although their name suggests they fly through the water, flying gurnards live on the bottom. Their huge fins don’t help them swim much: they don’t soar very high, but instead pass by in short bursts. The name gurnard is derived from the French word for “grunt,” which is the sound their swim bladder makes when water passes through it. Flying gurnards grow up to 20 inches long.
Christmas Tree Worms
You only have to examine a Christmas tree worm to realize where it got its name. These beautiful creatures are scattered at some point throughout the world’s tropical oceans, but you’re most likely to find them embedded in coral reefs. The feathery “crowns” that give them their distinctive Christmas appearance act as a filter for food and a harness for oxygen. If gurnards have the edge in some things over Christmas tree worms- yes, that extends to fans of the true Christmas tree, three cheers! They may be iridescent shades of violet, blue, orange, or yellow, yet they may live for forty years. That’s a heck of an investment for a Christmas tree. The best part of all is getting to see the crown that pops out of its little coral bed; and just when you’re finally wrapping yourself around the sheer beauty of this crown, the worm, scared, sucks itself back into its burrow.
Enypniastes Eximia
Discovered in the 1880s but only got into a camera for the first time in 2017. It is a genus of deep-sea sea cucumber, callously referred to by scientists as the “headless bird monster,” this animal has neither a brain nor sensory organs. Rather, it would more correctly be characterized as “swimming sea cucumber.” However, this organism does perform an invaluable function in filtering sediments from the seafloor.
The colors of Enypniastes eximia range from bright pink to reddish brown. It is also generally transparent, allowing a view of its digestive system. It is considered quite lively for a small deep-sea creature and grows to nine inches in length.