What do you think is the strangest creature on earth? (You can't say humans)
I nominate the manta ray
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/sharks/island/images/manta.jpeg

What do you think is the strangest creature on earth?Do they have to be living? How about this guy, Hallucigenia (http://www.nmnh.si.edu/paleo/shale/phallu.htm)?

http://www.nmnh.si.edu/paleo/images/dhallu1.gif

~Raithere

Coffinfish

http://www.oceans.gov.au/norfanz/images/Creature_Features/hr/coffinfish2.jpg

Wow, that's a fugly lookin' fish.

I'll nominate the seahorse.

The Platypus

http://www.kun.nl/fil-beta/platypus.jpg

Yeah I was gonna nominate the seahorse too but when i saw that fish with its almost humanlike face (at least skin colour!)I had to go for it :D

Just to mention something interesting, I actually have a birthmark 3 cm long in the exact shape of a seahorse. It's wierd but I've grown to adore the seahorse in general. :D

i second the platypus

WHOA! That fish is so - ***Sudden flash of realization*** That's where Michael Jackson got his nose from! The fish is missing a nose!

Flounder!
http://www.dodivein.com/flounder.jpg

When they are larval fish, they have one eye on each side of the body. As they develop, the left eye migrates over to the right side of the body, leaving the left with no eye

Whoah. That coffinfish looks like the typewriter creature from the Naked Lunch. Almost too similar to be a coincidence. Spooky.

You know what's the strangest thing about the platypus? Not it's bill. It's venomous. It has a spur in it's hind leg, I believe, that injects a painful venom. Don't come across many venomous mammals in this world.

Damn, I was going to break out a picture of the spookfish from a thread a while back. But the picture was removed and the other pictures in the thread don't do it justice. Have to come back later with my nomination. See if I can find something even creepier.

I think anglerfish are pretty jacked up.

http://www.ramseydoran.com/anglerfish/deep08b.jpg
http://ramseydoran.com/anglerfish/deep09b.JPG

I'll nominate the seahorse.For living species, I'll second that.

http://www.photovault.com/Link/Animals/Aquatic/aSeawaterFish/AAAVolume04/AAAV04P06_15.jpg

http://www.seahorse.org/gallery/albums/album07/P_taeniolatus_jeff01Lg.jpg

http://www.seahorse.org/gallery/albums/album14/pipefish32_anilao19_paradoxus.jpg

~Raithere

Why are they all fish?!

because fish are weird :)

The platypus isn't a fish. The hallucigenia isn't a fish. Don't think a sea-horse is a fish either. Could be wrong on that one though.

Fish are weird, though. But, you bring up a good point. Perhaps everyone thinks fish because the first example was a fish. Or actually, is a stingray a fish? Aquatic anyway.

Perhaps you yourself are to blame. With that coffinfish example, who can get the image out of their minds. It's got to be a fish after that freaky thing.

Actually, I didn't nominate the seahorse because of the fish pic. I actually started thinking of mammals, then reptiles, then the seahorse just popped in my head.
I also thought of the octopus and squid. They're pretty strange.

Here's some weird creature facts:

- Butterflies have 12,000 eyes.
- Some moths use acoustic countermeasures to scramble a bat's sonar.
- The honeysucker is the only bird that can actively fly backwards. They cannot, however, walk.
- Humpback whales keep composing new songs, and sing old ones rarely.
- Giraffes have no voices.
- Elephants cannot jump.
- Gorillas can't swim. Cats can, though most don't like water.

---/ The Weirdest Creature of All

It has been theorised that a species of ape evolved due to a semi-aquatic lifestyle. This ape lost nearly all of its hair, and instead developed a layer of subcutaneous fat, which is white fat, almost useless as insulation but very good for buoyancy. This ape is also the only land mammal to be able to control its breathing leading to the evolution of communication. It has a raised voicebox and lowered diaphragm which, along with the white fat, are usually only found in aquatic mammals such as dolphins and whales. It sweats profusely, as if it is used to the cooling effect of water, and its young are born with no fear of water and automatically hold their breath when submerged.

This ape is known as Homo sapiens...
/---

I'd never thought of it that way...
Hamsters rule. Just say the name! Hamster. Cool.

Actually, I didn't nominate the seahorse because of the fish pic. I actually started thinking of mammals, then reptiles, then the seahorse just popped in my head.
I also thought of the octopus and squid. They're pretty strange.

Here's some weird creature facts:

- Butterflies have 12,000 eyes.
- Some moths use acoustic countermeasures to scramble a bat's sonar.
- The honeysucker is the only bird that can actively fly backwards. They cannot, however, walk.
- Humpback whales keep composing new songs, and sing old ones rarely.
- Giraffes have no voices.
- Elephants cannot jump.
- Gorillas can't swim. Cats can, though most don't like water.

---/ The Weirdest Creature of All

It has been theorised that a species of ape evolved due to a semi-aquatic lifestyle. This ape lost nearly all of its hair, and instead developed a layer of subcutaneous fat, which is white fat, almost useless as insulation but very good for buoyancy. This ape is also the only land mammal to be able to control its breathing leading to the evolution of communication. It has a raised voicebox and lowered diaphragm which, along with the white fat, are usually only found in aquatic mammals such as dolphins and whales. It sweats profusely, as if it is used to the cooling effect of water, and its young are born with no fear of water and automatically hold their breath when submerged.

This ape is known as Homo sapiens...
/---

- Giraffes have no voices.
???

Yes they do. It was found in a recent study that they have an EXTREMELY (high or low i forget) Low voice, that humans cannot hear.

They seperated one giraffe from a group, and upon hearing this sound using computer equipement, they found that it could throw this voice, and the other giraffe were hearing it.

Oh. OK then.

The platypus isn't a fish. The hallucigenia isn't a fish. Don't think a sea-horse is a fish either. Could be wrong on that one though.
Yes I know all that. I didn't mean it literally (for once :D)

Fish are weird, though. But, you bring up a good point. Perhaps everyone thinks fish because the first example was a fish. Or actually, is a stingray a fish? Aquatic anyway.

This is the point I was trying to bring up. Fish seem to include the strangest creatures on earth! I think its because of our unfamiliarity with the deep sea.

I'd agree with the above. We are all very unfamiliar with the deep ocean since we have a difficult time reaching down to the benthic zones due to high pressure.

Forget the anglers. I now nominate the deep sea tubeworm.

I see an extremely freaky creature when I stare in the mirror. Does that count???

Most people have mentioned the ones I was thinking of (Platypus and Seahorse). But I think that the centipede is also rather weird, and the sea cucumber, when it flops it's stomach onto its food.

I nominate that elusive bird, the snipe. Despite being sent on many, many hunts for this creature as a little girl by my much wiser older brothers, I have yet to find one.

(offstage whispering, papers rustling, muffled laughter)

What? You mean they...son of a - !

:p

http://xpupload.hpphoto.com/servlet/com.hp.HPAlbumPict?com=us&awp=albumshow.html&album_id=4159022&RefreshRandom=0.9752438679394454 the hyote!

http://www.nbc13.com/news/3545383/detail.html
sorry, wrong link...here's the right one.

What about the tunicates? A close relative of ours, but looks more like a plant than an animal.


http://www.earthlife.net/inverts/ascidiacea.html

I reckon the Stone Fish is too strange to be true.


http://life.bio.sunysb.edu/marinebio/coralreef.html

Porteguese Man Of War

Hmm, I would also stick with fishes, they are just weird, at least for us, because they live under very different circumstances and have evolved accordingly.

How about this little viper fishy:

http://www.imagequest3d.com/pages2/shop/postcards/images/viper.jpg

somehow reminds me of "Aliens"

Or insects, they are pretty weird:

http://www.answersingenesis.org/Home/Area/Magazines/images/213insects-6.jpg

now let´s play search the insect :D

That fish looks like a derivative of the Piranha ... just by looking at it's teeth, that is. Though what makes it stand out is that wierd elongated looking thing below its jaw ... whatever that is.

And yes, insects are also wierd (like what Dreamwalker posted above) ... but not as wierd as most species of marine life. :bugeye: