Have you heard of the Johnson’s abyssal seadevil? Read about this strange animal and more in our guide to the world’s weirdest sea creatures

By Stuart Blackman

Published: Monday, 23 October 2023 at 14:36 PM


The sea is brimming with weird and wonderful sea creatures, so we weren’t stuck for choice when it came to picking our list of the world’s weirdest marine creatures. From the vampire squid to the scary-looking Johnson’s abyssal seadevil, here are our favourite weirdest sea creatures – read on if you dare…

11 weirdest sea creatures

Dumbo octopus

Dumbo octopus/Image credit: Getty

The Dumbo octopus – named after a certain cartoon elephant – is very much of this world, where it inhabits our deepest waters.

In 2019, an unmanned submersible filmed one on the seabed at a depth of nearly 7km in the Indian Ocean’s Java Trench, which is the deepest reliable record for any cephalopod.

Vampire squid

Vampire squid is one of the world's weirdest sea creatures
Vampire squid/Image credit: Internet Archive Book Images, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons

Strange things lurk in the planet’s deepest, darkest corners. And it doesn’t get much deeper and darker than the bottom of the ocean, or stranger than Vampyroteuthis infernalis – the ‘vampire squid from hell’.

Despite its name – inspired by its dark colour and the cloak-like webbing between its arms – the vampire squid is neither vampire nor squid. It is the sole member of its own cephalopod order.

Johnson’s abyssal seadevil