Despite looking like a combination between a jellyfish and an alien, the Ctenophora, which is also known as a comb jelly, is a distant cousin of the jellyfish. It’s an underwater predator and often eats anything from microscopic larvae to small crustaceans. The Ctenophora actually goes back hundreds of millions of years ago and is considered one of the oldest living creatures on planet earth.
This sea creature is combined of eight comb rows which it uses for swimming. It has no brain or central nervous system, but can still use its nerve ends to find and capture prey. While it’s not the weirdest aquatic creature on this list, it’s definitely one of the most visually interesting.
Tarsier
You may have seen the tarsier appear in various internet memes, pictures, and videos over the years, but in case you haven't learned about this primate yet, here's the short story behind it. The tarsier can mostly be found in Southeast Asia, particularly in the Philippines, Malaysia, Indonesia, and Brunei. It's known for having extremely large eyes and a very unique body structure, which gives it an almost alien look.
Many people compare the tarsier to Gollum from "The Lord of the Rings" series, an association which we strongly agree with. The tarsier helps out farmers by living on a purely insectoid-based diet and is an excellent addition to the workforce when it comes to getting rid of agricultural pests. It's also very cute.
Casper Octopus
The ghost octopus is one of the more recent deep-sea discoveries made by scientists. It was found near the Hawaiian Island deep in the pacific ocean, and has gripped the internet to the point of being called "Casper".
This little guy likes to lay up to 30 eggs on a bed of dead sea sponges and then proceeds to nest on these eggs for years. At this point, Casper is more an internet and biology fad than an actual new species. It remains to be seen whether or not more of these will be discovered.
Saiga Antelope
The next animal on our list looks like something straight out of a sci-fi adventure film — the critically endangered saiga antelope. This four-legged beast hails from the foothills of the Carpathian Mountains and Mongolia. It has been hunted quite excessively over the centuries, especially in Romania and Moldova, and eventually became completely extinct in these areas.
The saiga antelope has had a very bad string of misfortune in the past few decades, including the death of over 200,000 of these in just 10 days. This mass death happened just a few years ago and is believed to have happened due to a shared infection. They are currently on the brink of extinction, and the odds of recovery depend on strong preservation efforts.
Achatina Fulica
Achatina Fulica, also known as the African giant snail, is often considered the largest and most invasive type of snail on earth. It thrives in areas with large climates and eats crops and vegetation at unbelievable rates. This massive snail can reach up to 2.8 inches in height, and 7.9 inches or more in length.
The Achatina Fulica loves feeding off vegetation, and could easily wipe out a large swath of crops if left unnoticed. Humans have used the giant African land snail as everything from a delicacy, to literal pets, especially in France and the UK. These snails are hermaphrodites, meaning that they have both male and female reproductive body parts.