In our continuing quest to point out just how amazing and awful nature is, we continually find that all of the worst shit lives underwater. This is where you find nature's most disgusting, horrifying, and gleefully homicidal children.
But some citizens of Neptune's kingdom go another route, taking on guises that look less like nightmares and more like surreal hallucinations that exist only in the mind of someone who just gobbled a handful of peyote buttons after a nice Robitussin aperitif. Like ...
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The Glowing Red UFO Jellyfish
Jamstec/CoML, via BBC
Remember how, in the movie Avatar, all of the "exotic" creatures on that alien planet looked like tall, painted humans or slightly modified versions of wildlife from any average Earth jungle? Think about how crazy that is when we have creatures as alien as the Atolla jellyfish living right in our own motherfucking ocean:
NOAA Ocean Explorer, via Wikipedia
Now imagine Captain Kirk having sex with it.
But if that's not quite alien enough for you, turn out the lights and let the party begin:
National Geographic, via Deep Sea News
No doubt evolved during Mother Nature's warehouse rave phase.
Yeah, now that shit looks less like an alien and more like the goddamned UFO it arrived in. It's popularly called the alarm jellyfish, and to appreciate it, you really need to see its pulsing light show in action (note: We are 100 percent sure they did not add the porn soundtrack to this clip -- that's just this creature's mating call):
Yeah, the Atolla jellyfish is basically a Pink Floyd concert with more tentacles and fewer floating pigs, and it's oftentimes the only thing visible in the abyss surrounding it. And that's just the way it likes it: The Atolla jellyfish doesn't use its built-in lava lamp to hunt, but rather as a scream for help. If the jellyfish senses that something is interested in tasting the rainbow, it suddenly lights up like a rave, something that scientists call its burglar alarm response. The point is to either scare the attacker away or attract something even bigger so the diner suddenly becomes the buffet.
E. Widder, NOAA
This assumes that most deep-sea predators prefer their food to look like a Spencer Gifts.