There are lots and lots of strange creatures out there in the world and just when you think you’ve heard of them all, more appear to blow your mind. These peculiar animals may baffle you or make you laugh, but we assure you that they’re entirely real and entirely odd. Without further ado, we bring to you Strange Animals You Probably Didn’t Know Exist.

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6. Red-lipped Batfish
Found around Peru and the Galapagos Islands, this funny-looking fish has bright red lips and look like they just got finished getting ready to go out for a night on the town. They’re also weird in that they use their pectoral fins to “walk” on the ocean floor as they’re terrible swimmers. They get their name from their display and are said to possess characteristics found in bats, with long bat-like fins and smaller, more compressed bodies. Batfish have an illicium on the top of their heads, which they use in hunting by luring fish in front of their face before attacking. They’re harmless to humans, but that doesn’t mean we wouldn’t be a little creeped out if we swam upon one while taking a dip in the ocean.

5. Portuguese man o’ war
This odd-looking creature of the Atlantic ocean is also referred to as “man-of-war” and “floating terror.” Its tentacles are extremely venomous, and if stung, it’s bound to be painful. Although they may look like a jellyfish, they’re actually multiple zooids that have physiologically integrated and attached for survival and have to work together to function like a single animal. They’re named man o’ war after an 18th-century armed ship, as they resemble the Portuguese version at full-sail. They live their lives on the surface of the ocean, with the gas-filled bladder floating on the surface and the remainder of the colonial organism beneath. It has no way to propel itself about the water, so it just floats there and is influenced by winds, tides, and currents. The sting of a man o’ war is said to be terrible, and the tentacles can still sting when detached from the main body. Man o’ wars typically feed on plankton and other small animals that happen upon them, and they don’t have many real predators besides the loggerhead turtle.

4. Goblin Shark
This rare species of deep-sea shark has been called a “living fossil” as they are part of a family of sharks called Mitsukurinidae that span back 125 million years. They have long, flattened snouts and jaws that contain some intense teeth that resemble nails. Coming across one of these in the open ocean would probably be enough to scare you half to death as they’re between 10 and 13 feet long and look terrifying and unlike anything else. Typically, they’re found in the Atlantic ocean, but goblin sharks have been caught in all three major oceans. They normally eat teleost fish like dragonfishes and rattails, but it also eats crustaceans and cephalopods and, sadly, they’ve been found with garbage in their stomachs. They don’t really pose any real threat to humans seeing as they live deep under the water, at depths greater than 100 feet. They’re apparently not meant to be around us anyway seeing as a few specimens we’ve taken into captivity have only survived a short time. Sigh.

3. Lowland Streaked Tenrec
These adorable little guys are found in the northern and eastern parts of Madagascar living in a tropical lowland rainforest. They are tiny, about 4.8 to 6.5 inches long, with long limbs and a long snout. They’re brightly colored and look kind of like the mousey version of a bee, black with yellow stripes, light underneath, with long, scattered quills that can be barbed and detachable. One can find them going about their lives day or night when they’re out foraging for earthworms and, at times, other invertebrates. Their long snouts are used for poking around in the dirt to find their food, much like the anteater. They can use their little quills for defense, tilting them forward and driving them into a predators paws or nose. Though they sound kinda ferocious, they’re adorable, and we think you’ve probably never seen these little creatures before.

2. Glaucus atlanticus
Also known as the sea swallow, blue angel, blue dragon, blue glaucus, and more, this little blue sea slug is a shell-less gastropod mollusk. They tend to float upside down and are pushed along by winds and ocean currents. The blue of their bodies helps camouflage them as they blend in with the blue waters they live in off the coasts of South Africa, Australia, Mozambique, and in European waters. They eat other pelagic—open ocean—creatures, including another from this list, the Portuguese man o’ war. They deliver a painful and possibly dangerous sting when aggravated or attacked and humans handling them are told to use caution. The Glaucus atlanticus is tiny, reaching only 1.2 inches in length, and possess serrated teeth.


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