Creature library

Look past the close-up.

Each record connects anatomy to the actual environmental problem it helps solve.

Deep-sea anglerfish

A diverse group best known for a lure that brings prey within striking distance in dark water.

A low-energy cephalopod that eats marine snow rather than hunting like a typical squid.

A fish with tubular eyes inside a transparent, fluid-filled shield that helps it look upward and track prey.

A rarely observed open-ocean squid with exceptionally large eyes and long feeding tentacles.

A deep-sea octopus that moves with ear-like fins and lacks the ink defense common in shallower octopuses.

Soft-bodied fishes that include the deepest fish yet confirmed on video.

A small predatory fish with long teeth, sensitive eyes and light-producing organs.

A large crustacean scavenger that feeds on animal falls and other food reaching the seafloor.

A rare eel-shaped shark with six pairs of gill slits, three-pronged teeth, and flexible jaws.

The heaviest known invertebrate, with enormous eyes and rotating hooks on the tentacle clubs.

Deep-sea crustaceans that carry chemosynthetic bacteria on dense setae; some species harvest the bacteria as food.