THE FIERCE DEEP-SEA LIZARD

Scientists aboard a research vessel were trawling for fish near eastern Australia when they accidentally pulled up a fang-faced monster that has the body of an eel, the face of a lizard and an impressive reputation as the world's deepest-living predator.

Known as Bathysaurus ferox (or Ǵfierce deep-sea lizard”), the so-called lizard fish has an MO of burying itself on the deep seafloor, 1,000 to 2,500 metres below the water’s surface. When unsuspecting prey swims by, B. ferox darts out of the sediment and snatches up the meal in its formidable jaws.

They are hermaphrodites, meaning that that have both ovarian and testicular tissues in their reproductive organs, giving them a survival advantage in the sparsely populated deep ocean.

Sources: Livescience, Oceana.org