Deep-sea versus sci-fi
William Beebe, who was one of the first two bathynauts to venture into the ocean depths, once wrote that "at these abyssmal depths there are fish that can outdragon any mere figment of human imagination". So what sci-fi aliens resemble inhabitants of our blue planet? Here's a quick run-down...
One of my favourite deep-sea/sci-fi matches is a benthic siphonophore (which is also my usual answer to the question "what's the weirdest thing you've ever seen in the deep sea?") and creatures from Doctor Who "The Three Doctors" and Space: 1999 "The Bringers of Wonder" (and fellow Space: 1999 buff Brian Cox agrees!):
Goblin sharks: extenable jaws like Aliens, & resemble Knifehead from "Robots Bashing Monsters" aka Pacific Rim:
And here's some video of the goblin shark's extendable jaws in action:
Perhaps not surprisingly, James Cameron's Avatar appears to have some deep-sea inspiration, e.g. Iridogorigia coral & "helicoradians":
...but as my colleague Thomas Dalgren pointed out, there's a much better match for that with the Christmas Tree Worm:
The ”Helicoradian” from Avatar was probably inspired by Christmas tree worms, the annelid (Spirobranchus giganteus). https://t.co/wyHKUkX12S
— Thomas Dahlgren (@mucofloris) November 2, 2017
And swimming crinoids (feather stars) resemble the "woodsprite" seeds of the World Tree (to me, at least):
Deep-sea crustacean Phronima has a similar life-cycle to the "Alien" of the movies, as well as looks:
(BUT there is no actual evidence, beyond coincidence and perhaps wishful thinking from deep-sea sci-fi fans, that Phronima inspired the cinematic creation, as explained here)
Giant sea-spiders remind me of face-huggers from Alien etc movies too ;)
A little obscure perhaps, but this slickhead fish looks like Harvey Keitel's helmet from Saturn 3:
Dragonfish jaws have an extra joint to open super-wide, a bit like Predators:
...while the hatchetfish's skin bends light around its body, like a Predator's camouflage.
This googly-eyed squid from 900 m deep near the Marianas looks like a larval Sea-Devil from Doctor Who:
A final deep-sea thing resembling something from sci-fi? My haircut (or lack thereof) in the early 1990s & Prof Jones in Doctor Who The Green Death ;)
Jon Copley, November 2017
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