9 Incredibly Huge Sea Creatures Ever Known

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00:00Think you know what lurks in the depths of the ocean?

00:03While nearly 95% of our oceans haven't been explored yet,

00:07it's hard not to let your imagination run wild.

00:11But thanks to brave explorers, deep-sea cameras, and awesome archaeologists,

00:16we do know about some pretty incredible sea creatures living in our waters today,

00:21and millions of years ago.

00:23From the 9-foot spider crab to the 60-foot prehistoric megalodon,

00:28these sea dwellers come in all shapes and sizes.

00:31But let's focus on sea creatures famous for their huge size.

00:36Can you guess which living species of whale is the largest?

00:40Well, it's not the orca, but that's a good guess.

00:44The orca is a toothed whale that can grow to anywhere from 23 feet to 32 feet,

00:49which is slightly smaller than a school bus.

00:52How about the narwhal?

00:54Nope, they're not the biggest either.

00:56These unicorns of the sea live mainly in arctic waters,

01:00and only grow 13 feet to 20 feet in length.

01:03And that's including their 9-foot tusk.

01:07Tired of guessing?

01:08Okay, I give in.

01:10The largest whale that still exists today is the blue whale.

01:14At a jaw-dropping 82 feet to 105 feet,

01:17the blue whale is not only the biggest whale we know of,

01:20but is currently the largest animal to have ever lived on Earth.

01:24Seriously.

01:26These animals are bigger than a T-Rex.

01:29And even the prehistoric megalodon.

01:31If you were to put a blue whale next to a school bus,

01:34it would look like it could swallow it.

01:36Think about that.

01:38According to National Geographic,

01:40a blue whale's tongue can weigh the same as an elephant.

01:44And their hearts can weigh as much as a car.

01:46That doesn't even sound possible.

01:48It's no wonder these giants need to eat about 4 tons of krill every day.

01:55While there aren't too many animals living today

01:57that can compete with the blue whale's epic proportions,

02:00there is an entirely different species that is a good contender.

02:04And it's not quite what you would expect.

02:06It's a jellyfish.

02:08No, I'm not talking about the little jellyfish

02:11that wash up on the shore and ruin a perfectly good day at the beach.

02:14I'm referring to the lion's mane jellyfish,

02:18the biggest jellyfish around.

02:20This invertebrate can grow up to 120 feet long.

02:24They also come in different gorgeous colors,

02:27like red, purple, or even shades of orange.

02:31As if their length wasn't impressive,

02:33the lion's mane jellyfish boast a whopping 8 sets of 70 to 150 tentacles.

02:40That means they can have up to 1,200 in total.

02:44And here's the giant oceanic manta ray,

02:47the largest type of ray in the world.

02:50Their wingspan can be longer than a bus.

02:54These guys can reach 30 feet in length.

02:56They also have the biggest brain compared to body size among all fish.

03:01Unlike their stingray cousins,

03:03mantas don't have venomous tails.

03:05And while the lion's mane jellyfish and the blue whale

03:10are yet to be beaten for the longest sea creature,

03:13there is one marine creature that can grow even larger in length.

03:16The Portuguese Physalia physalis.

03:20Tentacles and all can reach a length of 165 feet long.

03:24And that's according to mentalfloss.com.

03:27While this thing may look a lot like a jellyfish,

03:29it's actually known as a siphonophore.

03:32And there are hundreds and sometimes thousands of them

03:35that are genetically identical.

03:38Their long tentacles help the organism catch prey.

03:42And its sting is fatal to most animals,

03:45even humans in some cases.

03:47What's even creepier is that

03:48if one of the tentacles comes off the organism for whatever reason,

03:52it can float around the water for days before decomposing.

03:56Even if it's detached, this tentacle can still sting you.

04:01But don't go running out of the ocean just yet.

04:04Your chances of being hurt by a Portuguese Physalia physalis sting

04:08are pretty slim.

04:10However, if you do get stung,

04:12the side effects aren't pretty.

04:14With welts, stomach cramps,

04:16an elevated heart rate,

04:17and an upset stomach.

04:19While you don't want to go anywhere near these long creatures,

04:23they sure are pretty to look at.

04:24Check out all those colors.

04:28The Shastasaurus is the biggest marine reptile

04:31that has ever existed.

04:33These predators lived during the late Triassic period,

04:36about 210 million years ago.

04:38These amazing giants could reach lengths of up to 69 feet

04:41and weighed more than 75 tons.

04:45This made the Shastasaurus as heavy as a blue whale.

04:49And if you could stand this creature up vertically,

04:52it'd be as tall as a seven-story building.

04:55Despite appearances,

04:57the Shastasaurus was actually pretty slim for its size.

05:00Its ribcage was only six feet across.

05:03You'd think that this big guy was chowing down on other dinosaurs,

05:07but that's not the case at all.

05:09This reptile survived on a diet that consisted of small fish

05:13and cephalopods, like octopuses and squids.

05:17The Alberto Nectes is a bright representative of the Pliosaur family,

05:22meaning that this marine reptile had a small head on an incredibly long neck

05:27and large flipper-like limbs that helped it move through the water.

05:30These creatures occupied the seas around North America 76 to 70 million years ago.

05:37The length of this sea monster could reach 38 feet,

05:41with its neck taking up 23 feet of that length.

05:43Its neck was a true record-breaker.

05:48It had a whopping 76 bones in it.

05:50No other animal known to humankind has had so many vertebrae in its neck.

05:56Scientists aren't sure why they needed such a lengthy neck.

05:59They might have used it to collect shellfish off the seabed.

06:03Or perhaps it helped them capture their main prey, fish and squids.

06:08This aquatic reptile also had gastroliths in its stomachs.

06:12Some of them were as big as 5.5 inches in diameter.

06:16The Tylosaurus belonged to the Mosasaur family.

06:20It dominated the shallow seas of North America about 85 to 80 million years ago.

06:26This was an enormous predator,

06:28with the biggest representatives reaching 45 feet in length.

06:32It had a narrow, hydrodynamic body,

06:35with a blunt, powerful head that the animal used to ram and stun its prey.

06:40Its body was equipped with agile flippers

06:42and a long tail decorated with a maneuverable fin.

06:46The Tylosaurus was a carnivore,

06:48and its diet included not only fish, turtles, and small sharks,

06:52but also other mosasaurs, pleiosaurs, and flightless birds.

06:58Meet Ophthalmosaurus.

07:00This prehistoric reptile thrived during the late Jurassic period

07:04and lived in oceans all over the world.

07:08Ophthalmosaurus weighed somewhere around 6,000 pounds

07:11and grew to approximately 16 feet long,

07:14according to NewDinosaurs.com.

07:16That's about the same length as the beluga whale that exists today.

07:20It's too bad these guys went extinct before we had a chance to see them ourselves,

07:24as their cartoonish white eyes and dolphin-like features are pretty darn cute.

07:30Of course, the Ophthalmosaurus evolved over time to become ophthalmologists,

07:35or eye doctors that we know today.

07:37No, that's just a lie.

07:39Just testing you.

07:40The Mosasaurus is a truly gigantic predator

07:44that dominated the seas all over the world about 66 million years ago.

07:50According to fossil evidence,

07:51some specimens could be more than 50 feet in length.

07:55This fact makes the Mosasaurus the biggest marine carnivore of its time.

07:59One of the most terrifying things about this creature

08:02was its crocodile-like head,

08:04decorated with literally hundreds of razor-sharp teeth,

08:07neatly organized in two rows on both jaws.

08:11The thing is,

08:12that it was pretty challenging for the Mosasaurus to grab its prey in the water.

08:16That's why it had all these teeth,

08:18plus something special.

08:20Pterygoid teeth,

08:21anchored to the bones on the roof of its mouth.

08:24This made hunting and holding onto its prey much easier.

08:29The Styxosaurus belonged to the Pleasaur family

08:32and lived during the late Cretaceous period,

08:34around 85 to 70 million years ago.

08:37Upon first glance at this dinosaur,

08:39you might mistake it for a sea snake,

08:41and it'd be an honest mistake.

08:44Styxosaurus were about 35 feet in length,

08:47but over 16 feet of that consisted just of their long, snake-like neck.

08:51They had a comparatively small body

08:53and weighed approximately 4 tons.

08:57Their mouths were full of razor-sharp, cone-shaped teeth

09:00that they used to catch fish.

09:01They didn't need to chew their prey,

09:04thanks to the 200 small stones called gastroliths in their bellies

09:08that probably aided in digestion.

09:10At the same time,

09:11some scientists believe that the Styxosaurus

09:14used these stones to sink to the ocean bottom

09:16in search of particular types of fish.

09:19Huh.

09:19Looks kind of like Nessie to me.

09:21Let's see.

09:23I'll see you later.

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