The ocean is a vast place. It’s a mystery to us–although it covers some 70% of our planet, we’ve only really explored about 5% of it. It’s been said that we know more about the moon than the ocean. Every day, scientists are learning new things from its depths, and every day new species are discovered. A Russian fisherman named Roman Fedortsov knows first hand just how weird some of those creatures can be.
Fedortsov, you see, works on a fishing boat out of Murmansk, Russia, and works mainly in the Barents Sea, a body of water split by Norway and Russia. He works aboard a trawler, netting huge amounts of fish as his vessel works the area. Like on any fishing trawler, there is a lot of bycatch. It’s a sad reality of where our food comes from, and Roman’s Instagram is a veritable treasure trove of the strangest and most amazing creatures in the ocean.
This one is part of a group of deep sea fish called Grenadier. Also called rattails (for obvious reasons, Roman says they are “scary but delicious.”
“Such is the beauty of the trawl,” Roman wrote on Instagram after posting this very strange looking creature with decidedly human teeth.
According to Roman, this is a species of Chilomycterus. He caught it in the Morocco’s fishing zone, and I’ll be damned if it doesn’t look like a relative of the ocean’s most depressed creature, the blobfish.
These surprised looking creatures are called lumpfish. Apparently, the person who named them wasn’t feeling all that inspired.
Frilled sharks ain’t exactly the most friendly looking creature in the sea, are they? Their mouths are lined with about 300 teeth, all facing inwards and made up from 25 rows.
Be still, my beating heart.
While some of Roman’s fish are named on his Instagram, lots aren’t. This one, for instance.
…or this one:
Lantern fish are so named for the dangling appendage in front of their faces. In the dark of the deep-sea, prey is attracted to the light it gives off, giving the lantern fish a built-in fishing lure.
Another species of Grenadier, complete with Falcor-eyes.
Up until just a few weeks ago, ghost sharks–also known as chimaeras–hadn’t been filmed alive in their natural habitat. They’re one of the ocean’s most mysterious creatures. Almost nothing is known about them, yet Roman has caught them more than once.
See more weirdness from Roman on his Instagram page.