Giant Oarfish

Name: king of herrings or giant oarfish,
Scientific Name: Regalecus glesne
FAQ:

• The king of herrings or giant oarfish, Regalecus glesne, an oarfish of the family Regalecidae, is the world's longest bony fish. Rarely sighted, it is found in all the world's oceans at depths of between 300 and 1000 meters. Most sightings have been in the north Atlantic, with most specimens found either dead or dying in shallow waters.
• The king of herrings is neither a true herring, nor a close relative. According to the Great Book of Animals, its name comes from being sighted near shoals of herring, which fishermen thought were being guided by this fish.It is scaleless, ribbon-shaped and silvery with a long, red dorsal fin
• The king of herrings is the world's longest bony fish. Its total length can reach 17 m, and it can weigh up to 300 kg. Its length (the record is 17 m (56 ft)) and bizarre appearance are presumed to be responsible for some sea serpent sightings

Sun Fish

Name: Sun Fish

Scientific Name: Nordsøen Oceanarium
FAQ:

• The ocean sunfish, Mola mola, or common mola, is the heaviest known bony fish in the world. It has an average adult weight of 1,000 kg (2,200 lb). The species is native to tropical and temperate waters around the globe. It resembles a fish head with a tail, and its main body is flattened laterally. Sunfish can be as tall as they are long when their dorsal and ventral fins are extended.
• Sunfish live on a diet that consists mainly of jellyfish, but because this diet is nutritionally poor, they consume large amounts in order to develop and maintain their great bulk. Females of the species can produce more eggs than any other known vertebrate. Sunfish fry resemble miniature pufferfish, with large pectoral fins, a tail fin and body spines uncharacteristic of adult sunfish.
• Adult sunfish are vulnerable to few natural predators, but sea lions, orcas and sharks will consume them. Among humans, sunfish are considered a delicacy in some parts of the world, including Japan, the Korean peninsula and Taiwan. In the EU, regulations ban the sale of fish and fishery products derived of the Molidae family. Sunfish are frequently, though accidentally, caught in gillnets, and are also vulnerable to harm or death from encounters with floating trash, such as plastic bags.
• GROWTH: The caudal fin of the ocean sunfish is replaced by a rounded clavus, creating the body's distinct truncated shape. The body is flattened laterally, giving it a long oval shape when seen head-on. The pectoral fins are small and fan-shaped, while the dorsal fin and the anal fin are lengthened, often making the fish as tall as it is long. Specimens up to 3.2 m (10.5 ft) in height have been recorded.
• SIZE: The ocean sunfish has an average length of 1.8 m (5.9 ft), and an average weight of 1,000 kg (2,200 lb), although individuals up to 3.3 m (10.8 ft) in length 4.2 m (14 ft) across the fins and weighing up to 2,300 kg (5,100 lb) have been observed.
• DIET: The diet of the ocean sunfish consists primarily of various jellyfish. It also consumes salps, squid, crustaceans, small fishes, fish larvae, and eel grass. This range of food items indicates that the sunfish feeds at many levels, from the surface to deep water, and occasionally down to the seafloor in some areas. The diet is nutritionally poor, forcing the sunfish to consume a large amount of food to maintain its size

Frilled Shark

 
Name: frilled shark
Scientific Name: Chlamydoselachus anguineus
FAQ:

• The frilled shark (Chlamydoselachus anguineus) is one of two extant species of shark in the family Chlamydoselachidae, with a wide but patchy distribution in the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. This uncommon species is found over the outer continental shelf and upper continental slope, generally near the bottom though there is evidence of substantial upward movements. 
• It has been caught as deep as 1,570 m (5,150 ft), whereas in Suruga Bay, Japan it is most common at depths of 50–200 m (160–660 ft). Exhibiting several "primitive" features, the frilled shark has often been termed a "living fossil". 
• GROWTH: It reaches a length of 2 m (6.6 ft) and has a dark brown, eel-like body with the dorsal, pelvic, and anal fins placed far back. 
• Its common name comes from the frilly or fringed appearance of the gill slits, of which there are six pairs with the first pair meeting across the throat.
• Seldom observed, the frilled shark is speculated to capture its prey by bending its body and lunging forward like a snake. The long, extremely flexible jaws enable it to swallow large prey whole, while the many rows of small, needle-like teeth prevent escape. 
• DIET: It feeds mainly on cephalopods, while also consuming bony fishes and other sharks. 
• This species is aplacental viviparous: the embryos emerge from their egg capsules inside the mother's uterus, and are sustained to term primarily by yolk. The gestation period may be as long as three and a half years, the longest of any vertebrate. 
• Between 2 and 15 young are born at a time; there is no distinct breeding season. 
• Frilled sharks are occasionally captured as bycatch by commercial fisheries but have little economic value. This shark, or a supposed giant relative, has been suggested as a source for reports of sea serpents.

Lamprey

Name: Lamprey
Scientific Name:
FAQ:

• Lampreys (sometimes also called lamprey eels) are jawless fish, whose adults are characterized by a toothed, funnel-like sucking mouth. Translated from an admixture of Latin and Greek, lamprey means stone lickers (lambere: to lick, and petra: stone). While lampreys are well-known for those species which bore into the flesh of other fish to suck their blood, most species of lamprey are non-parasitic and never feed on other fish. 
• In zoology, lampreys are sometimes not considered to be true fish because of their distinctive morphology and physiology.
• Lampreys live mostly in coastal and fresh waters, although some species, travel significant distances in the open ocean, as evidenced by their lack of reproductive isolation between populations. They are found in most temperate regions except those in Africa. Their larvae have a low tolerance for high water temperatures, which may explain why they are not distributed in the tropics.
• GROWTH: Adults physically resemble eels, in that they have no scales, and can range anywhere from 13 to 100 centimetres (5 to 40 inches) long. Lacking paired fins, adult lampreys have large eyes, one nostril on the top of the head, and seven gill pores on each side of the head. The unique morphological characteristics of lampreys, such as their cartilaginous skeleton, suggest that they are the sister taxon of all living jawed vertebrates (gnathostomes), and are usually considered the most basal group of the Vertebrata.
• DIET: They feed on prey as adults by attaching their mouthparts to the target animal's body, then using their teeth to cut through surface tissues until they reach blood and body fluid. They will generally not attack humans unless starved

Candiru

 
Name: Candiru
Scientific Name: Vandellia cirrhosa
FAQ:

• Candiru (English and Portuguese), also known as cañero or toothpick fish, are a number of genera of parasitic freshwater catfish in the family Trichomycteridae; all are native to the Amazon River. Although some candiru species have been known to grow to a size of 16 inches (~41 cm) in length, others are considerably smaller. These smaller species are known for an alleged tendency to invade and parasitize the human urethra; however, despite ethnological reports dating back to the late 19th century, the first documented case of a candiru parasitizing a human did not occur until 1997.
• Candirus are small fish. Adults can grow to around 15 cm with a rather small head and a belly that can appear distended, especially after a large blood meal. The body is translucent making it quite difficult to spot in the turbid waters of its home. There are short sensory barbels around the head, together with short, backward pointing spines on the gill covers
• Although lurid anecdotes of attacks on humans abound, there is only one documented case of a candiru entering a human orifice. In this instance, the victim had a candiru swim into his urethra as he urinated while thigh-deep in a river. Jeremy Wade, a British biologist, investigated this incident for the Animal Planet's River Monsters. The victim underwent a two-hour urological surgery to remove the candiru. Dr. D. Scott Smith, Chief of Infectious Diseases at Kaiser Permanente, described the candiru as having spikes to assist it clinging to its host
• It was also once thought that the fish was attracted to urine, as the candiru's primary prey emits urea from its gills, but this was later discredited in formal experimentation.

Goblin Shark

Name : Goblin Shark

Scientific Name: Mitsukurina owstoni

FAQ:

• Size: Goblin sharks can grow to 11 feet (3.3 m) long and weigh 350 lb (159 kg)
• Diet: Goblin sharks feed on a variety of organisms that live in deep waters. Among some of their known prey are deep-sea squid, crabs and deep-sea fish. Very little is known about the species' life history and reproductive habits, as encounters with them have been relatively rare.
• The most distinctive characteristic of the goblin shark is the unorthodox shape of its head. It has a long, trowel-shaped, beak-like rostrum or snout, much longer than other sharks' snouts. Some other distinguishing characteristics of the shark are the color of its body, which is mostly pink, and its long, protrusible jaws.
• Due to this sharks jaw which can elongate and shrink simultaneously when it is hunting. Moreover needle like teeth are helpful for piercing prey and prevent it from escaping.
• Since this shark lives at a depth of 200 meters and more, this sharks are rare and not a threat to human.
• The jaws of Goblin Shark are known to fetch very high price in the market

DANGER RATING: 1/5