FIVE SUPERPOWERED X-CRITTERS OF THE CORAL TRIANGLE

The Bobbit worm is by all accounts named after Lorena Bobbit who famously lopped off a certain appendage from her cheating husband’s body (its scientific name is Eunice Aphroditois). Doesn’t look like much does it? That’s because the Bobbit Worm hides most of its trunk beneath the seabed. And that trunk can grow as long as three metres. Yeah, it’s long, but so what I hear you cry! Ok. now imagine you’re a fish, swimming along, minding your own business. Suddenly a set of razor sharp teeth appears out of nowhere - we’re talking milliseconds - and literally cut you in half. Get the Bobbit reference now? As the last vestiges of your consciousness slowly fade, you find yourself swallowed into the Bobbit’s wormy innards, where you’re slowly digested with the aid of powerful toxins - a final indignity an ignominious end. 
 

THE POISON CHALICE - BLUE RINGED OCTOPUS

I remember once seeing footage of legendary Indonesia explorer and filmmaker Lorne Blair holding one of these in his palm. ‘One of these’ being  a creature whose venom can kill you in a matter of minutes - even seconds. cute and psychedelic as it looks, the blue ringed octopus is among the most deadly creatures in the ocean. There’s no antivenom, so if it nips you, you’re pretty much a goner. Tetrodoxin in the venom paralyses victims, so their companions often think they’re already dead. It is technically possible to give artificial reputation till the paralysis wears off after a few hours - but unlikely. Cardiac arrest and motor paralysis kick in within minutes. Like all octopuses, it spends much of its time hiding beneath rocks - when it does move about it uses a form of jet propulsion, ejecting water from its funnel shaped hyponome. 

THE MASTER OF DISGUISE - PYGMY SEA HORSE

The pygmy seahorse has two valuable assets that keep it alive - it’s diminutive size (it’s the smallest sea horse in the world) and its ridiculously accurate camouflage. If you’ve ever tried to find one on a Gorgonian fan, you’ll know what I mean. They mimic the tissue of the fan so precisely, that the first, Hippocampus Barbiganti, was only discovered in 1969, when scientists studying a gorgonian fan in a lab chanced upon it. Since 2000, a further six species have been named. Like all seahorses, after impregnating the females, the males carry the babies to term though pygmies do so in their trunks rather than their tails like their larger brothers.

THE VENOM STEALER - GLAUCUS ATLANTICUS

This enchanting snub nose little fellow, who moves around belly up (thanks to gas in his stomach) is the underwater equivalent of a mongoose - only more amazing. Glaucus Atlanticus likes nothing more than to snack on the lucicrously venomous Portuguese Man O War. It doesn’t just eat them though, it is also able to make use of the most venomous cells, incorporating them into its own body to act as a defense mechanism. So not only does it consumet one of the most poisonous denizens of the deep, it absorbs its powers and uses them for its own ends!