Why do deep sea creatures look scary?

It's not that they look scary—it's that they're adapted to an environment very different from the one we're adapted to live in. read more

It's not that deep-sea creatures are deliberately designed to scare people. It's that they don't look familiar, because they evolved to live in an extremely different environment from the grasslands and forests where our own species evolved. read more

Anna Rothschild of Gross Science explains how different it is at the bottom of the sea: Food can be scarce, there’s tremendous ocean pressure, and it’s dark. These environmental factors have a defining influence on the morphology — the body form, inside and out — of the creatures that live there. read more

So most deep-sea creatures are pretty drab; some are translucent. On the other hand, being able to generate your own dim lights can be useful in the darkness—to recognize your own species, lure prey, fool predators, etc.—so a number of deep-sea fish, squid, etc. have glowing spots. read more