The undersea world is home to all sorts of amazing life. But you don’t have to slip on scuba gear to get a glimpse of the most eye-catching creatures. Dive deep into our gallery of incredible ocean dwellers, and make a splash!

Crabs don’t come any bigger than the spindly Giant Japanese Spider Crab, whose lengthy legs can span more than 4.5 metres (15 feet). The crabs, which can live to the ripe old age of 100, are found in deep water off the coast of Japan. Fishermen search out these massive crabs so they can be served as a delicacy.

Officially, it’s Enypniastes eximia, a kind of sea cucumber. Some of the first marine explorers to discover this strange creature dubbed it a ‘headless chicken fish.’ However, the more charitable name for this deep-sea dweller is Pink See-Through Fantasia. It lives in water about 2,400 metres (8,000 feet) deep in the Celebes Sea off the island of Borneo.View photo on Wikimedia Commons

Octopuses are remarkably intelligent. Masters of camouflage, octopuses can change colours to match their surroundings, which is a huge help both for hunting and avoiding predators. The biggest of the bunch is the Giant Pacific Octopus, which can grow to sizes of about five metres (16 feet) across on average.

Much like fishermen cast their rods and hope to get a catch, female anglerfish swim around in deep water with a built-in fishing rod attached to their head. Instead of a hook, their ‘rod’ is topped with a luminous lure that draws prey close enough to be snatched up. The smaller males, meanwhile, survive as parasitic hosts on their female counterparts, with several taking up residence on a single female.

Stacked with sharp teeth, great white sharks are generally found in coastal temperate waters around the world, but also swim in a range of depths and temperatures. Sometimes as big as six metres (20 feet) long, but often a little smaller, these toothy beasts are the biggest predatory fish on the planet. While people are occasionally the victims of fatal attacks, scientists insist humans aren’t hunted by great whites, but do admit we are sometimes targeted for ‘test bites.’

Needless to say, the tongue-eating louse is not the sort of thing you’d ever want to find in your supermarket fish purchase. This nasty little beast enters through the gills, attaches itself to a fish’s tongue and sucks out blood. This eventually causes the tongue to die and fall out, at which point the loathsome louse attaches itself to the remaining stump.View photo on Wikimedia Commons

The winged wonder of the water, the torpedo-shaped flying fish can swim away from predators at an astonishing 60 km/h (35 miles per hour). That’s fast enough to break the surface, where it uses its wing-like pectoral fins to get airborne and glide over the ocean, covering up to 200 metres (650 feet) in a single flight. Flying fish are found in all the world’s oceans, and can be found in tropical and temperate environments.

Once dubbed the world’s ugliest animal, the beastly blobfish is a fantastically grotesque creature that has been compared to an underwater version of Star Wars villain Jabba the Hut. This muscle-free mass of gelatin floats around in deep water off the coast of southern Australia and Tasmania, eating crabs and lobsters.

The Latin name of this colourful species is Spirobranchus giganteus, but its seasonally-themed name is Christmas Tree Worms. The worm’s central tube is ringed with a spiral of retractable radioles that are used for breathing and feeding. Divers and snorkelers would consider it a true gift to catch a glimpse of one of these worms living in tropical coral reefs around the world.View photo on Wikipedia

The biggest animal known to have ever lived is the impressive blue whale, a massive beast that ranges in length from 24 to 30 metres (80 to 100 feet), about the size of a 10-storey building. The huge heart alone weighs some 181 kilograms (400 pounds), almost as much as a small piano. Found in every ocean, the blue whale is the loudest animal on earth when it ‘sings’ its deep, vibrating call at more than 180 decibels, loud enough to be heard thousands of kilometres away.