CONTENTS

PICTURE CREDITS

INTRODUCTION ................ 6

OCEAN BEASTS #40-31 BASKING SHARK ......................... 8 GIANT CLAM ............................. 16

TRUMPETFISH ........................... 10 COMB JELLY ............................. 17

SEA PEN ................................. 12 OCEAN SUNFISH ......................... 18

SEA CUCUMBER .......................... 13 SEAHORSE ............................... 20

WIRE CORAL ............................. 14 RED LIONFISH ........................... 21

QUIZ ....................................... 22

OCEAN BEASTS #30-21 MANATEE ................................. 24 BLUE WHALE ............................ 32

SEA PIG .................................. 26 SEA ANGEL .............................. 34

STRIPED PYJAMA SQUID ................ 28 DUMBO OCTOPUS ........................ 35

REEF TRIGGERFISH ...................... 30 SLOANE'S VIPERFISH ................... 36

LONGHORN COWFISH..................... 31 SUNFLOWER SEA STAR ................. 38

QUIZ ....................................... 40

OCEAN BEASTS #20-11 FLAMINGO TONGUE SNAIL ............... 42 HORSESHOE CRAB ....................... 50

NARWHAL ................................ 44 PORTUGUESE MAN-OF-WAR ............ 52

CHRISTMAS TREE WORM ................ 46 HAGFISH ................................. 53

DECORATOR CRAB ....................... 47 LEAFY SEADRAGON ...................... 54

PARROTFISH ............................. 48 HANDFISH ................................ 56

QUIZ ....................................... 58

OCEAN BEASTS #10-1 PISTOL SHRIMP ......................... 60 CLOWN FROGFISH ....................... 68

IMMORTAL JELLYFISH ................... 62 RED-LIPPED BATFISH ................... 70

FIREFLY SQUID .......................... 64 GOBLIN SHARK .......................... 72

GREENLAND SHARK ...................... 66 MIMIC OCTOPUS ......................... 74

JAPANESE SPIDER CRAB ................ 67 ANGLERFISH ............................. 76

QUIZ ....................................... 78

GLOSSARY ..................... 80

The Publisher would l ike to thank the following for their kind permission to reproduce their photographs:

Page 4-5: Shutterstock / Photobank gallery; Page 6-7: Shutterstock / Rich Carey; Page 8-9: Shutterstock / Grant M Henderson; Page 10-11: Shutterstock / Rich Carey; Page 11 inset: Getty images / Humberto Ramirez; Page 12: Getty images / David Fleetham / VW PICS / UIG; Page 13: Shutterstock / e2dan; Page 14-15: Shutterstock / InnaVar; Page 14 inset: Shutterstock / Aleksey Stemmer; Page 16: Shutterstock / Errorcz; Page 17: Shutterstock / evantravels; Page 18-19: Getty images / Rodrigo Friscione; Page 18 inset: Shutterstock / WoodysPhotos; Page 20: Shutterstock / Studio 37; Page 21: Shutterstock / Drew McArthur; Page 22-23: Shutterstock / Damsea; Page 22 inset: Shutterstock / Grant M Henderson; Page 23 inset: Shutterstock / Errorcz; Page 24-25: Shutterstock / Andrea Izzotti; Page 24 inset: Getty images / Reinhard Dirscherl / ullstein bild; Page 26-27: Ocean Networks Canada; Page 27 inset: Shutterstock / Adam Ke; Page 28-29: Shutterstock / Alexius Sutandio; Page 30: Shutterstock / Darren J. Bradley; Page 31: Shutterstock / Khoroshunova Olga; Page 32-33: Getty images / Franco Banti; Page 33 inset: Shutterstock / Allexxandar; Page 34: Shutterstock / tuthelens; Page 35: NOAA / Alamy Stock Photo; Page 36-37: Solvin Zankl / Alamy Stock Photo; Page 38-39: Shutterstock / Greg Amptman; Page 39 inset: Getty images / Universal History Archive / UIG; Page 40-41: Shutterstock / Damsea; Page 40 inset: Shutterstock / Alexius Sutandio; Page 41 inset: Shutterstock / tuthelens; Page 42-43: Shutterstock / bearacreative; Page 44-45: Getty images / Paul Nicklen; Page 46: Shutterstock / JonMilnes; Page 47: Shutterstock / Ekkapan Poddamrong; Page 48-49: Getty images / Wild Horizon / UIG; Page 48 inset: Shutterstock / S_Photo; Page 50-51: Shutterstock / BeeRu; Page 50 inset: Shutterstock / Andrii Vodolazhskyi; Page 52: Getty images / Wolfgang Poelzer; Page 53: Getty images / Gerald & Buff Corsi; Page 54-55: Shutterstock / Kjersti Joergensen; Page 55 inset: Nature Picture Library / Alamy Stock Photo; Page 56-57: Minden Pictures / Alamy Stock Photo; Page 58-59: Shutterstock / Damsea; Page 58 inset: Getty images / Paul Nicklen; Page 59 inset: Shutterstock / Kjersti Joergensen; Page 60-61: Minden Pictures / Alamy Stock Photo; Page 62-63: Getty images / Yiming Chen; Page 64-65: 500px/ ma-mi; Page 66: Getty images / Franco Banfi; Page 67: Shutterstock / Jane Rix; Page 68-69: Getty images / Mark Webster; Page 70-71: Minden Pictures / Alamy Stock Photo; Page 72-73: Paulo Oliveira / Alamy Stock Photo; Page 73 inset: Kelvin Aitken / VWPics / Alamy Stock Photo; Photo; Page 74-75: Ethan Daniels / Alamy Stock Photo; Page 75 inset: Shutterstock / AquariusPhotography; Page 76-77: Getty images / Peter David; Page 78-79: Shutterstock / Damsea; Page 78 inset: Getty images / Yiming Chen; Page 79 inset: Minden Pictures / Alamy Stock Photo; Page 80: Shutterstock / divedog.

6 7

The creatures in this book are all unique in their own ways, so we’ve used a special strangeometer to rank them against each other. This is made up of four categories with a mark out of 25 for each.

These categories are…

In this book, you’re about to meet:

The biggest animal that the world has ever known

A creature with eyes on the end of its arms

A colour-changing master of disguise

A fish wearing lipstick

The fashion designer of the sea

… and many more!

This considers how

stunning the ocean

creature looks.

These are added up to get a strangeometer score out of 100!

What unusual skills does the creature have that make it stand out from the crowd?

What is the ‘wow factor’ for this underwater creature?

How likely are you to

encounter this creature?

Some are very rare indeed!

INTRODUCTION STRANGEOMETER

STRANGEOMETER17/25

8/25

12/25

13/25

50/100

Appearance

Weird abilities

Rarity

Strangeness

Strangeometer Score

Appearance

Strangeometer Score

Weird abilities

RarityStrangeness

More than 70 per cent of our planet is covered in seawater, and our oceans contain millions of amazing creatures. Join us to find out about the most fascinating and creepy creatures, and learn which is the weirdest of them all.

We’ve ranked the world’s strangest ocean beasts to find out about…

• Their crazy skills

• Their bizarre habits

• Their jaw-dropping looks

8 9

Coastal Arctic and temperate waters

STRANGEOMETER12/25

11/25

12/25

11/25

46/100

Appearance

Weird abilities

Rarity

Strangeness

Strangeometer score

The big-mouthed basking shark is the second-biggest fish in the seas, however it survives

by eating some of the ocean’s smallest creatures: plankton.

BASKING SHARK

#40Although it usually swims slowly, the shark can jump completely out of the water, probably to try to get rid of parasites on its skin.

I c a n f i l t e r 2 , 0 0 0 t o n n e s o f s e a w a t e r

a n h o u r . G u l p !

The basking shark is covered in a very smelly slime which can rot fishing nets.

10 11

#39

The clever trumpetfish can change colour to look like its prey. This allows it to get really close before grabbing its dinner.

C a n I s t i c k w i t h y o u ?

STRANGEOMETER14/25

14/25

4/25

15/25

47/100

Appearance

Weird abilities

Rarity

Strangeness

Strangeometer score

These fish often swim vertically with their heads pointing downwards, trying to blend in with coral. They also disguise themselves as floating sticks to surprise the small

reef fish that they eat.

TRUMPETFISH

Tropical waters of western Atlantic Oceanand Caribbean Sea

Trumpetfish often hitch a ride with larger fish,

swimming beside them to sneak up

on prey or protect themselves from

predators.

12 13

SEA CUCUMBERWhen they think they are going to

be attacked, some sea cucumbers

spurt out sticky threads to trap

their enemies.

D i d s o m e o n e m e n t i o n

s e a f o o d s a l a d ?

Sea cucumbers can throw their own guts out of their body to distract predators, giving them time to escape. Their missing body parts grow back later!

There are around 1,250 types of sea cucumber. Despite the

name, many of them

don’t really look like

the cucumbers we eat.

They can be covered

in spikes, spots or warts. They move about in herds.

#37

STRANGEOMETERAppearance

Weird abilities

Rarity

Strangeness

Strangeometer score

13/25

18/25

3/25

15/25

49/100

Worldwide

SEA PENSea pens look like old-fashioned quill

pens sticking out of the sea bed.

#38Some sea pens can grow up to 2m (6.5ft) tall,

but most are smaller than this.

Most sea pens glow when they are touched.

A sea pen is

not actually

one animal but

a whole group

of tiny animals

called polyps.

C a n I b e y o u r p e n p a l ?

STRANGEOMETERAppearance

Weird abilities

Rarity

Strangeness

Strangeometer score

18/25

13/25

2/25

15/25

48/100

Tropical and temperate waters worldwide

14 15

I ’ m a b i t t i e d u p a t t h e m o m e n t .

Like many corals, wire coral comes in lots of different colours - from yellow and red to blue and green.

They can grow to

more than 3m (9ft) in length.

Tropical and subtropical seas

Many tiny creatures such as shrimp

make their homes on wire coral.

WIRE CORALAs the name of this beautiful form of coral suggests, wire

coral can be found in long strands or coils floating in tropical and subtropical seas.

#36 STRANGEOMETER17/25

8/25

12/25

13/25

50/100

Appearance

Weird abilities

Rarity

Strangeness

Strangeometer score

16 17

STRANGEOMETERAppearance

Weird abilities

Rarity

Strangeness

Strangeometer score

13/25

8/25

16/25

14/25

51/100

#35

Clams can make pearls, and they are huge too. The biggest one ever found weighed 34kg (75lb). It was found by a fisherman in the Philippines who kept it under his bed as he didn’t know that it was worth up to £76 million!

#34COMB JELLY

The jellies’ moving

hairs scatter light

through the water and

make the creatures

look like they are

covered in rainbows.Comb jellies are ancient creatures, and have roamed the sea for at least 500 million years. They use a sort of glue to stick their prey to their tentacles, before bringing the unlucky victim to their mouth and eating it.

GIANT CLAM

Giant clams really are pretty big – they can be more than 1m (3.3ft) in size and weigh more than 200kg (440lb).

They are the largest molluscs on Earth.

South Pacific and Indian Oceans

STRANGEOMETERAppearance

Weird abilities

Rarity

Strangeness

Strangeometer score

18/25

14/25

4/25

16/25

52/100

The rows of hairs that line the sides of see-through

comb jellies act as tiny oars, pushing it

through the water.

I c a n l i v e f o r m o r e t h a n 1 0 0 y e a r s .

L o o k o u t f o r m y l i g h t

s h o w .

Worldwide

18 19

STRANGEOMETER14/25

12/25

12/25

15/25

53/100

Appearance

Weird abilities

Rarity

Strangeness

Strangeometer score

#33Temperate and tropical waters

OCEAN SUNFISH Sunfish produce more eggs than any other backboned animal –

up to 300 million at a time.

Ocean sunfish can grow as big as a car. They spend half the day sunbathing, which is how they got their name.

When a sunfish has too many parasites living on

its skin it pays a visit to a seagull. The gull pecks them

off, leaving the sunfish nice and clean.

M a k e s u r e y o u p h o t o g r a p h

m y b e s t s i d e .

20 21

STRANGEOMETERAppearance

Weird abilities

Rarity

Strangeness

Strangeometer score

15/25

15/25

12/25

13/25

55/100

STRANGEOMETERAppearance

Weird abilities

Rarity

Strangeness

Strangeometer score

17/25

16/25

3/25

18/25

54/100

#32 #31

SEAHORSERED

LIONFISHSeahorse males give birth to the babies. The female lays eggs in a pocket-like pouch on the male’s

body, and two to six weeks later baby seahorses are born.

A lionfish can deliver venom through up to 18 needle-like fins. Its

sting is extremely painful to humans but doesn’t

usually kill them.

Seahorses have no teeth or stomachs. They suck up food through their snouts like a vacuum cleaner. Baby seahorses eat an amazing 3,000 pieces of food a day!

Male and female seahorses pair for life. Every morning the couple meet up and dance together for up to an hour.

Lionfish are invading seas around the United States and Europe, taking over from the fish that already live there. In the US people are being encouraged to eat lionfish, to get rid of them!

Lionfish sometimes spread their fins and herd small fish into tight corners, so they can eat them more easily.

I ’ m v e r y t a s t y – b u t d o n ’ t

t e l l a n y b o d y !

Caribbean Sea, North Atlantic

and Indo-Pacific Oceans

Tropical waters around the world

S h a l l w e d a n c e ?