Water bodies such as the sea, rivers and streams are notorious for harbouring all sorts of ancient creatures who we thought would never see the light of day, literally.

Here are 11 of these aquatic animals — and if you're thinking they might be tasty grilled over fire and with garlic and sambal, hold that thought: once you learn about them, you'll realise you could well be the one they're having for dinner.

1) The Chinese Giant Salamander: crying amphibians 

This slimy guy can grow up to 1.8m in length. They're from the same family as amphibians (frogs, toads, newts and other tinier salamanders) and live in the mountain streams of China. The creepy part? their calls sound like babies, thus their Chinese name Wawa Yu, or baby fish.

If that isn't freaky, we have no idea what could be.

2) Electric Eel: not a-moray

They're more like catfish, actually, rather than eels. Their power source comes from 6000 special organs that can discharge, well, only about 600 volts on average. For context, your wall socket only transmits about 220 - 240 volts of power, and no, we don't recommend plugging this eel to your phone for a quick charge.

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3) Goliath Tiger fish: the real Jaws 

Those jaws right there. They're double hinged, and coupled with its large teeth has led villagers to believe that they're the only fish to not fear crocodiles. Heck, it's believed to have FED on crocodiles and attacked humans on occasions.

4) Red-Bellied Piranhas: brutal cannibals

They may appear harmless, but just watch what happens when meat is dropped into their midst:

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These folks eat fish, frogs, baby anacondas, young birds that have fallen into the rivers, insects and worms.

Did we forget to mention also that they're cannibalistic when food is scarce?

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5) Giant Freshwater Stingray: not your BBQ dish 

Growing up to 5m wide, at 600kg, it can inflict deadly injuries with a venomous barb, about 28cm long.

They need little introduction, for fellow stingrays have made the news. Crocodile Hunter Steve Irwin And Underwater World Singapore senior diver Philip Chan both died from injuries inflicted by the poisonous barbs of a stingray.

6) Goonch Catfish: maneater

She's a maaannneaterrrrr — or at least, goonch catfish have been rumoured to have eaten people. Reputedly, two people's mysterious disappearances were attributed to this fish eating them, for their remains were never found.

Their taste for human flesh was said to have started from scavenging half-burnt corpses on funeral pyres. Yikes.

7) Pacu: a fish with human teeth

They're piranhas, but the vegan cousin of the Red-Bellied ones. They're actually pretty harmless, save for those teeth right there. They crack nuts. That's why they look a little like human teeth, providing the crushing force needed to bite through a shell.

Look at him biting that nut like a champ.

8) Alligator Gar: imitating alligators

They might look small, but boy, do they hunt like alligators. They lay still on top of the water, pretending to be a log, and then launch themselves on to prey.

Their eggs are poisonous too — an additional safeguard from prying human (or any other predator's) hands.

 

9) Indian gharials: zipper teeth

See those teeth? They work like zippers to stop prey from escaping — you wouldn't want your hand stuck in the jaw of these gharials, which can weigh up to 680kg.  A bulbous knob is found on the tip of the snout of mature males, and it's meant for mating calls and warning hisses that can be heard 1km away.

 

10) Alligator Snapping Turtle: powerful skull-crushing jaw 

You're a fish or a frog. You see a wiggling red thing which looks like a delicious worm. You swim over — and chomp! — you stupidly mistook the tongue of an Alligator Snapping Turtle for food, and now you're its midday snack.

Male turtles grow up to 80-100kg, and that translates to incredible jaw power. Just imagine that crushing force around your finger, their teeth would cleanly snap it off.

11) Arapaima: a huge fish that can breathe from the surface.

Much about this fish is strange.

They have teeth on their tongue. They also can breathe air from the surface of water — they emerge with a coughing noise. They can also create vacuums with their mouth to forcefully suck prey in and eat them.

Oh, did we mention that they are scarily HUGE? They can reach 3m in length and 200kg in weight.

Not sufficiently spooked? You can meet these bad boys in person — ahem, in fish? — at the River Safari. They've got a special Halloween-themed event you can check out more details for here. It's kid-friendly!

 

Top photo courtesy of Wildlife Reserves Singapore

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