The Deep Sea Is the Real Haunted House

By: Tatum Freigang

As Halloween creeps closer, many of us might decorate our homes with cobwebs, skeletons, and ghosts. But if you’re looking for a real haunted place, you won’t find it on land. The deep sea, hidden thousands of metres below the surface, is Earth’s most mysterious realm, with less than 20% of it currently explored (NOAA). 

Welcome to the planet’s real haunted house. Let’s dive through the layers of the deep sea, from the twilight zone, to the midnight zone and into the abyss to meet the monsters that lurk within (NOAA). Come discover the ghosts, dragons, vampires and goblins of the sea. But beware! The deeper you go, the stranger and more unknown things become. 

Are you brave enough to enter?… 

Enter the Twilight Zone 

Descend past 200 metres, just beyond the reach of sunlight, and you enter the Mesopelagic, or “twilight,” zone (NOAA). Down here, light fades, pressure mounts, and brief flashes of bioluminescence pulse through the gloom. Many animals glow to lure prey, attract mates, or light their way. Other creatures have evolved huge eyes, transparent bodies or red and black coloration to blend in with the endless dusk (Monterey Bay Aquarium).

One fish that is a true master of disguise is the Lanternfish. This fish has perfected its bioluminescence tactic by emitting just enough light to match the little sunlight coming in from above (BBC). This illusion allows them to blend in and become invisible, like a true ghost of the sea!

Thought dragons were fictional? Think again. Another fish lurking in the twilight zone that will surely haunt your dreams is the Common Black Dragonfish. Like the mother of dragons herself, female dragonfish are more menacing. They are larger in length, growing to around 20 inches, while males reach only 2-6 inches. Females also have transparent fangs and luring whiskers, while males have no teeth, whiskers or even stomachs! (Komarla and Andrei). Similar to the lanternfish, these creatures have light-emitting organs called photophores that create the bioluminescent glow. They have tiny photophores along their bodies and two long rows of larger photophores at their sides, making them one eerie-looking glowstick (McGrouther). 

Our last creature hiding in the twilight zone is the real-life Frankenstein, the Barreleye Fish. Don’t worry about being rude; this fish doesn’t mind you looking through them. Barreleye fish have two bright green eyes peering through their transparent dome. This allows them to see predators lurking above, while also being able to rotate their eyes forward for a full range of motion – and a spooky party trick! (Monterey Bay Aquarium). 

Scary Things Happen after Midnight 

Descend further into this haunted house and you’ll reach the Midnight Zone, where the ocean becomes truly haunted. 

This is the realm of the Vampire Squid, with blood-red eyes and webbed arms that look like a cloak. Despite the name, it doesn’t drink blood; instead, it feeds on “marine snow,” the ghostly rain of organic particles falling from above (Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History). Unlike other cephalopods, vampire squid don’t squirt ink when threatened but shape-shift by turning inside out and revealing their spikey spines (Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute). If you thought that was creepy, they don’t stop there. The tips of their tentacles can glow to confuse predators, and if they feel really threatened, they will cast a spell of blue sticky bioluminescent mucus as their ultimate smoke bomb escape (Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute). 

Hold your slim-making machine this year because the Hagfish has it covered. This creatures tube-like body is filled with copious amounts of slime. The slime allows them to move their organs inside their bodies and out of harm’s way. If a predator were to chomp down, their mouth would become a slimy mess. The predator would then be forced to spit the hagfish out, making this creature a not-so-tasty Halloween treat! (Pennisi).

Welcome to the Abyss 

The last layer we’ll explore today is the Abyssal Zone, or the Abyss. Even its name sends a shiver down my spine. Sunlight doesn’t penetrate the water this far below, as we finally reach the seafloor and water column at an astounding 4,000 to 6,500 meters from the surface (NOAA). 

Up first is our ghost-like creature due to its transparent body – the Sea Pig. Habitating the sea floor, this creature crawls on its tube feet and uses the tentacles around its mouth to find its candy (dead animals, poop and mucus) – yum! Below is an army of sea pigs marching to feast on a carcass (Monterey Bay Aquarium). 

Our last animal we’ll be exploring in the abyss is the Goblin Shark. Thankfully for the goblin shark, it doesn’t need to see you to know you’re there. These creatures rely on smell, sound and electric fields from other animals to navigate the ocean or detect their prey. When they are ready to attack, their jaw extends outwards, like those automatic jumpscare Halloween decorations, capturing their prey within their sharp teeth (Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History). 

Why the Haunted Deep Matters

It’s tempting to think of the deep sea as distant or unchanging, but this “haunted house” is very much alive — and connected to us. The deep ocean regulates Earth’s climate, absorbs carbon, and circulates nutrients that support all marine life (Marine Biodiversity and Sustainability). Yet it’s also fragile. Mining, pollution, and warming waters threaten ecosystems we barely understand.  These animals have perfectly adapted to their harsh environments, and although the deep may seem immortal, even ghosts can fade. 

Protecting it starts with curiosity. The more we explore and learn about this mysterious world, the more we see how extraordinary, spooky, and vulnerable it really is. Since so little of the deep sea has been explored, there’s so much we don’t know, making it even more important to invest in research and awareness. It’s estimated that two-thirds of species in the ocean have yet to be discovered! (NOAA).

So this Halloween, when you see fog rolling across your neighbourhood, think of the ocean depths — the true realm of spooky creatures. No haunted house on land can match the intrigue of the deep sea, a place where every flicker of light has a purpose, and every strange shape has adapted to survive the dark. 

 

Blog by Tatum Freigang. 

Disclaimer: I’m not a deep-sea expert—just an ocean enthusiast! While I did my best to research and reference accurate information, this piece was written for fun and curiosity, not as a scientific source.

 

Works Cited

BBC. “How lantern fish become invisible.” CrowdScience, 9 August 2024, https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p0jhhr0r. Accessed 27 October 2025.

Komarla, Joshika, and Mihai Andrei. “Dragonfish — Small yet Mighty Predators of the Twilight Zone.” ZME Science, 14 September 2023, https://www.zmescience.com/feature-post/natural-sciences/animals/fish/dragonfish-small-yet-mighty-predators-of-the-twilight-zone/. Accessed 27 October 2025.

Marine Biodiversity and Sustainability. “Marine Ecosystem Services: How Our Oceans Sustain Life and Economy.” Marine Biodiversity Science Center, https://www.marinebiodiversity.ca/marine-ecosystem-services-how-our-oceans-sustain-life-and-economy/. Accessed 28 October 2025.

McGrouther, Mark. “Common Black Dragonfish, Idiacanthus atlanticus Brauer, 1906 – The Australian Museum.” Australian Museum, 16 February 2021, https://australian.museum/learn/animals/fishes/black-dragonfish-idiacanthus-atlanticus-brauer-1906/. Accessed 27 October 2025.

Monterery Bay Aquarium Research Institute. “Vampire squid.” All Animals, n.d., https://www.oceanfirstinstitute.org/news/blog/spooky-ocean-critters/. Accessed 27 October 2025.

Monterey Bay Aquarium. “Barreleye | Animals.” Monterey Bay Aquarium, n.d., https://www.montereybayaquarium.org/animals/animals-a-to-z/barreleye. Accessed 27 October 2025.

Monterey Bay Aquarium. “Sea Pig.” Animals, n.d., https://www.montereybayaquarium.org/animals/animals-a-to-z/sea-pig. Accessed 27 October 2025.

Monterey Bay Aquarium. “Why do deep-sea animals look so weird? | Stories.” Monterey Bay Aquarium, 28 March 2022, https://www.montereybayaquarium.org/stories/deep-sea-animal-adaptations. Accessed 27 October 2025.

NOAA. “How much of the ocean has been explored?” Ocean Exploration, 21 October 2013, https://oceanexplorer.noaa.gov/ocean-fact/explored/. Accessed 27 October 2025.

NOAA. “Layers of the Ocean | National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.” NOAA, 28 March 2023, https://www.noaa.gov/jetstream/ocean/layers-of-ocean. Accessed 27 October 2025.

Pennisi, Elizabeth. “How the slimy hagfish ties itself up in knots—and survives shark attacks.” Science, 6 January 2017, https://www.science.org/content/article/how-slimy-hagfish-ties-itself-knots-and-survives-shark-attacks. Accessed 27 October 2025.

Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History. “The Goblin Shark.” Ocean Find Your Blue, October 2015, https://ocean.si.edu/ocean-life/sharks-rays/goblin-shark. Accessed 27 October 2025.

Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History. “The Vampire Squid from Hell.” Ocean Find Your Blue, October 2017, https://ocean.si.edu/ocean-life/invertebrates/vampire-squid-hell. Accessed 27 October 2025.