According to the Twittersphere, this little guy is a cookiecutter shark, a species with circular jaws that is known to leave conical craters on all sorts of animals, from seals to other sharks.
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This toothy creature looks like it belongs on the set of an Alien film!
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Sometimes a creative angle helps to amplify the freakiness.
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This smiley chap is possibly a species of wolffish.
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Fedortsov's very own Whitewalker from the deep.
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The spiny looking creature is a sea urchin (check out those teeth!)
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Sea spiders are not considered true arachnids. Instead, they belong to a family of primitive marine arthropods called pycnogonids.
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This unsettling-looking crustacean reminds us of the creatures in District 9.
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This entangled creature is most likely a variety of basket star.
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Why the long face?
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The ocean sunfish or common mola (Mola mola) is the heaviest bony fish in the world. Sadly, these docile animals often accidentally fall victim to gillnets which are likely to be their biggest threat in the wild.
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King of the crabs! It's possible that this crustacean is suffering from some sort of growth.
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Many of Roman Fedortsov's finds remain unidentified.
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The massive jaw and stomach of the anglerfish can stretch allowing it to swallow prey up to twice its body size.
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Open wide!
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My, what big eyes you have.
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This grumpy looking fish is possibly a fangtooth.
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This handsome chap looks like a species of anglerfish. These unique animals are named after their distinctive hunting tactic, which involves using a fleshy head-lure to attract prey.
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A weird-looking grenadier, or rattail.
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This ghost shark's eyes only glow green when they are exposed to light. In the depths of the ocean, they remain black.
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Remoras, or suckerfish, have an organ with slat-like structures in place of their first dorsal fins. This allows them to suction themselves onto larger animals.
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This adorable little fellow looks to be a species of pufferfish or porcupinefish.
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This yellow-colored skate looks a little like an omelet with a tail.
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This fish looks like it may have picked up a tongue-eating louse (yes, it's a real thing). Cymothoa exigua is a parasite that enters a fish's body through its gills and attaches itself to the victim's tongue. A quick severing of some blood vessels and the fish's tongue falls off and is replaced by the louse, which gladly takes over all tongue-related duties.
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Meet the bearded sea devil (Linophryne Brevibarbata): haunter of dreams and eater of souls.
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This fish's bulging eye is likely the result of an expanded swim bladder. The mouth tentacles? We're not so sure about those!
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Say cheese!
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Blackmouth catsharks have been found in waters as deep as 12,000 feet!
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Although this odd creature would not be out of place amongst Fedortsov's finds, the image was actually taken by a researcher who helped describe the species. The specimen was found in 2007 and is the only one in existence.
30 Photos Of Weird Creatures Pulled Up By Unsuspecting Deep-Sea Fishermen
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“We know more about the surface of Mars than the ocean floor.” You’ve probably stumbled across this factoid before, and while marine researchers are getting closer to understanding the mysteries of the deep, there is still much to be discovered.
One thing is for certain though: If it’s weird creatures you’re after, then you best take a dip deep below the surface. The deep sea is a veritable treasure trove of nightmarish soul-suckers and eye-bulging monsters that are as bizarre as they are fascinating.
Nobody knows this better than fisherman Roman Fedortsov. The Russian trawler’s social media accounts are odes to the weirdness of the deep ocean. As a trawlerman working near the port city of Murmansk in northwest Russia, Roman Fedorotsov has seen and photographed countless deep-sea species that have been hauled up accidentally while his vessel trawls for commercial catch.
From ghost sharks and one-eyed fish, to bearded sea devils and anglerfish, he’s seen it all. “No need to invent ‘Monsters.’ Nature has already done it,” Fedortsov once wrote on Twitter.
Of course, these “monsters” probably only look alien to us as they have adapted to life in the cold, dark depths of the ocean. Take their black and red appearance, for example. Many of the species that Roman Fedortsov has dredged from the deep are black or red in color, and it’s an adaptation that allows them to remain virtually invisible to predators.
Most of these animals live in the Mesopelagic zone of the ocean which stretches from a depth of 200 metres to 1,000 metres (roughly 660 to 3,300 feet). There is minimal light at these depths and, as the US National Ocean and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) explains:
“The black animals absorb all colours of light available, and the red animals appear black as well; there is no red light to reflect and their bodies absorb all other available wavelengths of light. Thus red and black animals predominate.”
It’s also important to note that these fish likely take on an even more grotesque appearance as soon as they are removed from their natural environments. Many deep-sea dwellers have swim bladders (gas-filled organs that allow fish to control their buoyancy) built to withstand the intense pressure of the ocean abyss. As soon as these fish are brought to the surface, the drop in pressure can cause their swim bladders to blow up resulting in eye-bulging and body contortions.
We’ve scoured Roman Fedortsov’s Instagram in order to track down some of the weirdest of the weird creatures. Obviously, we’d prefer if these animals did not wind up in a fisherman’s net, however, the images do provide a unique glimpse into what lurks in the ocean abyss, and the images may just help secure funding for some eager scientist to dive in and study these denizens of the deep.
John Kuroski is the editorial director of All That's Interesting. He graduated from New York University with a degree in history, earning a place in the Phi Alpha Theta honor society for history students. An editor at All That's Interesting since 2015, his areas of interest include modern history and true crime.
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Kuroski, John. "30 Photos Of Weird Creatures Pulled Up By Unsuspecting Deep-Sea Fishermen." AllThatsInteresting.com, January 25, 2018, https://allthatsinteresting.com/roman-fedortsov-photos. Accessed January 30, 2025.
