No matter how much you love swimming there are some creatures you do not want to run into. Most of them are harmless but you might have a heart attack due to the ugliness overdose, so get used to them now so you’re not surprised if you bump into one.

10. The stonefish

As if being the most venomous fish in the world wasn’t enough, the stonefish is also damn ugly. It lives in the shallow tropical waters of the Pacific and Indian Oceans from the Red Sea to Queensland Great Barrier Reef. Its greenish and brown colors allow it to camouflage itself easily among the rocks of coral reefs and simply catch its prey by surprise.

Not that you might feel drawn to this fish because of its looks or anything, but if you do happen to stumble upon one while scuba-diving or snorkeling, keep your distance, you don’t one to get stung by one of the spines on its dorsal area.

9. Basking Shark

After the Whale shark, the Basking shark is the largest fish on the planet. It can be found in practically every ocean but like all the other species of shark it faces extinction due to excessive fishing.

This particular shark resembles a great white to the point when it opens his huge mouth. Then it is just a bit freaky, like a bone-tube sucking in everything in its path. This harmless, slow-moving big boy feeds on small fish, invertebrates, zooplankton from 2,000 tons of water per hour. He likes to eat this one.

8. Frilled Shark

More scary-looking than ugly, the Frilled shark is often called a living fossil, because it has changed very little since pre-historic times. It doesn’t resemble its fellow sharks very much, looks more like a blue-grey eel, except for the six gill slots that give it away.

The Frilled shark is rarely seen in shallow waters, although it was sighted in all of the world’s oceans, it likes to swim at depths between 50m-1,500m. Because of this very little is known about the Frilled shark, and the few sightings are attributed to the fish being sick and disoriented.

7. The Fangtooth

Very small in size and harmless to humans, the fangtooth is unapproachable due to his looks. It’s a good thing people can’t run into them very often while swimming, because they live at depths between 200m-2,000m, the Fangtooth is considered one of the deepest-living fish, at depths of up to 5,000m.

The Fangtooth’s front teeth are so large and spiky that they have evolved two sockets on either side of the brain to accommodate them while their mouth is closed. They are one of the most robust species of fish on the planet, able to live in fish-tanks where the conditions are very different from their natural environment.

6. Sea Wolf

Also known as a Wolf Fish, the Sea Wolf is the largest fish in the suborder of blennies, a species resembling eels that have been around for the last 50 million years. It inhabits the northern waters of both hemispheres, finding shelter under large rocks near the bottom. It has powerful teeth with which he crushes its prey and breaks down into edible pieces.

When fishermen catch Sea wolves in their nets they have to tend to them very carefully because they are very aggressive and tend to attack anything that comes their way. They are considered one of the ugliest fish due to their large jaws and scary-looking teeth.

5. Oreo-dory

Despite its hideous looks you should know that members of the dory fish-family are valued as delicacies in restaurants around the world. I can’t imagine how anyone could eat anything that looks like this but then again, I’ve never tried it.

The Oreo-dory is a small fish that lives at depths of 600m-1,000m, with extremely large eyes, deep and vertically compressed body and a large head. Actually it just looks like swimming creepy fish-head.

4. Firefly Squid

If you know anything about the Firefly Squid you’re probably asking yourself why on Earth is it in the list. Although it is one of the most fascinating organisms in the Western Pacific Ocean, and puts on quite a show off the coast of Japan when millions of them gather to mate, the Firefly Squid is pretty repulsive when looked-upon in broad daylight.

This tiny squid has an organ called photophore which emits a deep blue light that can be distinguished in darkness, which it uses to attract its prey. Quite a sight to behold at night, just don’t look at one during the day.

3. Angler Fish

The Angler Fish has been called the ugliest animal on the planet on more than one occasion. And with good reason if I may say so, its looks are anything but attractive. The Angler Fish lives in one of the inhospitable places on the planet, the bottom of the sea. They have a dark brownish color, exceptionally large heads and creepy, huge translucent teeth.

Males are considerably smaller than females and they can be fairly considered parasites. All they do is search for a female to which they latch-on with their teeth and, in time physically fuses to the female’s skin and bloodstream. It looses its sight and all internal organs.

2. Lamprey

Before there were jaws and bone skeletons there were lampreys. This invertebrate parasite dates back 400 million years and is definitely one of the scariest-looking sea-creatures I know. Lampreys attach themselves to fish using their toothy mouths and suck all their body juices.

Lampreys are very aggressive predators using their strong tongues to rasp holes in the body of their victims and their anticoagulant saliva keeps the wound open. They are great problem in the area of the Great Lakes, threatening the fish population in the area.

1. Blobfish

Our choice for the ugliest sea-creature was an easy one, you really can’t come across anything more disgusting than a floating piece of slime. That’s what the Blobfish is all about, slime.

This gelatinous mass inhabits the deep coastal waters of Australia and Tasmania and because it mainly floats just above the bottom all the time it’s rarely seen by humans. It has no muscle mass so it can’t hunt for food, it just eats whatever edible stuff finds its way to it.

Photo credits: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10