Halloween is not the only season when monsters creep, slither and lie in ambush among us. Indeed, there's little the imagination can conceive that mother nature hasn't already dreamed up in one of her fouler moods. Some are harmless enough - peaceful creatures merely cursed with frightful features. Others, however, deserve the dread their fearsome forms inspire.
You'll find both on this list, a guided tour of creatures not often seen outside of illustrated bestiaries, myths or nightmares. Enjoy - and pleasant dreams.
5. Anglerfish
This long-spined anglerfish, aka Lophius piscatorius, could give Jabba the Hutt a run for his money, no?
The natural world is home to more than 300 species of anglerfish, each uglier than the last, but we're mainly interested in some of the 160 species that lurk in the inhospitable depths of the world's oceans [source: BBC]. Between their upturned, gaping maws, needle-like teeth and distensible bellies, which stretch to digest prey twice their size, you wonder how they manage to feed at all. The answer lies in clever camouflage and a sinister trick of physiology: a spine that juts out like a lantern and acts as phosphorescent bait, luring other fish to their doom. And if that isn't sinister enough, some species also sport spaghetti-like hipster beards [source: Pietsch].
Not monstrous enough for you? Wait until we delve into their nightmarish mating practices. In 25 species, once the comparatively tiny male anglerfish gives his mate-to-be a love nibble, his body physically fuses to hers. As he is absorbed, he loses his eyes and fins, unites his circulatory plumping with hers, and spends the rest of his life as a, pardon our French, sperm factory [source: Pietsch]. But hey, life is pretty hard in the freezing ocean depths, where pressures tilt toward the crushing, sunlight is nowhere to be seen and meals on the fin are both scarce and elusive [source: Pietsch].
4. Scorpionfly
Panorpa communis - in a less ferocious moment.
Our next monstrous critter would look right at home among the mix-and-match features of mythical monsters like the cockatrice, the griffon and the hippogriff. Its long reddish, body, yellow-and-black camo-patterned wings and mantis-like head would make it stand out in any crowd of insects, but it's the scorpion-like tail that makes you want to keep your distance from this omnivore.
But before you reach for your black light, antivenin and critter-stompin' shoes, you should know that scorpionflies, like the species Panorpa nuptialis that lives in the fields and meadows of the south-central U.S., measure a mere 1 inch (2.54 centimetres) long [source: CAS]. Also, these members of the order Mecoptera (from the Greek for "long wings") confine their diets to plant materials like pollen, nectar and the occasional deceased or debilitated insect.
As for that stinger, well, it's the scorpionfly's genitalia, which males also employ in mating displays (you know the type). That's good news for our nightmares, but we're unsure as to how the females feel about it. Maybe that's why males come a'courtin' with small food offerings or delectable salivary secretions. After all, the females could kill them on a whim [sources: Meyer; Tumlison; The Wildlife Trusts].
Hey, no one said lovin' was easy.
3. The Tongue-eating Louse
That fish looks like cute enough, that is, until you notice those two additional eyes staring you down from
the fish's mouth!
the fish's mouth!
We know what you're thinking: No one is allowed to bite your tongue but you. Well, fear not. You're probably safe, unless you happen to be a rose snapper. If so, we recommend steering clear of the Cymothoa exigua isopod. These little crustaceans, which suck the blood from the gouged tongues of fish after entering through their gills, will go one step further with you: They will actually replace your tongue and live off your blood supply - all while making little C. exigua babies in your mouth [source: Simon].
But kudos for learning to read!
Isopods are a widely varied group of crustaceans, most of which live in the sea and many of which could easily have made the look-like-a-monster parade [source: King]. But these buggers compare unfavourably to the love child of an albino wood louse and that mind-control bug that crawled out of Chekov's ear in "Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan." Besides, this lingua-licking louse is the only known animal parasite that functionally supplants a host's organ, which we think earns it a mention on principle alone [source: Simon].
So next time you catch a rose snapper, pay close attention when you reach past those staring eyes and open the mouth. You might be in for a monstrous game of peekaboo.
2. Assassin Bug
That's a rather gnarly backpack, assassin bug.
Some critters are born with looks that horrify, others have to accessorize. Take Acanthaspis petax, one of the 7,000 known assassin bugs, which takes trophy collecting to a whole new level by decorating its spiny body with the corpses of its prey. Piles of them. Do they do this to strike terror into the hearts of their enemies? Actually, quite the opposite: They use the masking scent of the bodies to hide them from detection and, in some cases - as with termites, which clean their nests of their dead and so respond to the scent of termite corpses - to actually lure additional prey to their doom [sources: Simon; Stromberg].
Beneath their horrific haberdashery, these accessorizing assassins come with their own monstrous qualities as well, including a cactus-esque assemblage of bodily spines and a long, hardened mouthpart called a rostrum. The latter is used to pierce the exoskeleton of its meal, so that the bug can inject a paralytic and a toxin that turns the insect's innards into a slurpable smoothie. It then brings its maxillae into play and gulps away [sources: Simon; Stromberg]. Ah, delicious deception.
1. The Oarfish
Me, monstrous?
Wyrms, dragons, sea serpents: From mythically symbolizing primordial chaos to supplying fodder for centuries of tall tales on the high seas, these creatures have occupied our collective imaginations for as long as anyone can remember. But could they exist - or, at least, be based on something that does?
Over the years, we've advanced several candidates to explain alleged sightings of these legendary creatures, from porpoises swimming in single file to masses of seaweed, giant squids or even enormous nemertines (marine ribbon worms) [source: Encyclopaedia Britannica].
But none quite measures up like Regalecus glesne, a sort of ribbon fish that sweeps through the deep waters (650-3,000 feet, or roughly 200-900 meters) of the tropics and subtropics and reaches maximum lengths estimated at 30.5-50-plus feet (around 9-15-plus meters) [source: NOAA]. Named for the long, reddish and oar-like pelvic fins that trail roughly half its body length, the world's largest bony fish is also notable for its red dorsal fin and crest, which rises from its head like a rooster comb from hell [sources: Encyclopaedia Britannica; Griggs].
For all its fearsome size, the oarfish is harmless to anything but the tiny fish, shrimp or other invertebrates that filter into its toothless maw. It's also elusive. Unless sick or dying, these sinuous beasts rarely show up in human-frequented waters - a fact, we suspect, that only enhances its legendary status.
Author's Note: Beauty is in the eye of the beholder and, in any case, has little to do with fitness or survival. What might fail to win pageants or make the covers of Trapper Keepers might well thrive in environments more hostile than we can fathom and equip gear more perfectly suited to its needs than our dexterous fingers. Surely, there is beauty in that, too.
Related Articles:
Article Sources:
1. BBC. "Anglerfish." (Oct. 13, 2014)
2. California Academy of Sciences. "Panorpa nuptialis." (Oct. 14, 2014)
3. Encyclopaedia Britannica. "Oarfish." (Oct. 13, 2014)
4. Encyclopaedia Britannica. "Sea Serpent." (Oct. 13, 2014)
5. Griggs, Mary Beth. "This Rare Footage Shows Two Live 15-Foot-Long Oarfish Swimming in the Ocean." Smithsonian Magazine. April 7, 2014. (Oct. 13, 2014)
6. King, Rachel. "Isopods." Southeastern Regional Taxonomic Center, South Carolina Department of Natural Resources. 2004. (Oct. 11, 2014)
7. Meyer, John. "Mecoptera." North Carolina State University. April 8, 2009. (Oct. 12, 2014)
8. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). "Oarfish (Regalecus glesne Ascanius)" (Oct. 13, 2014)
9. Pietsch, Theodore W. "Oceanic Anglerfishes: Extraordinary Diversity in the Deep Sea." University of California Press. April 2009.
10. Pietsch, Theodore W. "Precocious Sexual Parasitism in the Deep Sea Ceratioid Anglerfish, Cryptopsaras Couesi Gill." Nature. Vol. 256. Page 38. July 3, 1975. (Oct. 13, 2014)
11. Simon, Matt. "The Ferocious Bug That Sucks Prey Dry and Wears Their Corpses." Wired. June 20, 2014. (Oct. 12, 2014)
12. Simon, Matt. "This Parasite Eats a Fish's Tongue - and Takes Its Place." Wired. Nov. 22, 2013. (Oct. 11, 2014)
13. Tumlison, Renn. "A Flying Scorpion is Harmless." Henderson State University. (Oct. 11, 2014)
14. The Wildlife Trusts. "Scorpion Fly (Panorpa communis)." (Oct. 13, 2014)
Top image: You'll be seeing Pseudoscopelus again - in your nightmares. Credit: Peter David/Getty Images.
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