Warning: This list is not for the faint of heart. There are invisible monsters living in your tap water, creatures that swim and multiply by the billions inside every drop of brisk, refreshing water you slurp down your gullet, tiny demons that…well, okay, they’re actually not all that bad. All water has bacteria and protozoans to some extent, most of them completely harmless. But once you see what they look like up close and personal, you might never get the image out of your head. Here are 10 microorganisms that could be living in your drinking water right now.

When cities pump water out to their residents, they put the water through a series of filtration and disinfection steps first. This is obviously beneficial because when you pull water from lakes and rivers it’s most likely going to be filled with bacteria. Filter it, and you can get most of that bacteria out. The important word there is “most,” because even the most advanced filtration techniques are not infallible. And for many people, that means drinking tiny doses of cryptosporidium every day.

Cryptosporisium is what’s known as a protozoan—a single-celled organism—and is most famous for giving people bouts of crippling diarrhea, a condition affectionately referred to as cryptosporidiosis. The protozoa works like a parasite, latching onto the intestines and laying eggs in a person’s fecal matter—and that’s how it spreads: when drinking water becomes contaminated with infected fecal matter, crypto moves on to new hosts. We have safeguards in place to stop it from happening, but on a good day it only stops 99 percent of the cryptosporidium. In 1998 a crypto bloom broke out in Sydney, Australia. Officials noticed the rise, but didn’t act for a few days because the levels were still “within acceptable health limits.” That means that there are acceptable levels for a diarrhea-inducing parasite that comes from poop in your water.

This pleasant looking slinky is Anabaena circinalis, a cyanobacteria that lives in freshwater reservoirs around the world, notably Australia, Europe, Asia, New Zealand, and North America. Cyanobacteria like this are believed to be some of the first multicellular organisms on earth, and as such have evolved to do some very curious things. In the case of Anabaena spp., those things are the production of neurotoxins. The discovery of Anatoxin-a was one of the first cases of a neurotoxin being produced by cyanobacteria, and we found out in a big way: An outbreak in the 1950’s got into the drinking water supply and was responsible for a series of mass die-offs at cattle farms across the U.S.

In Australia, freshwater Anabaena bacteria have been found producing saxitoxins, a type of neurotoxin that causes respiratory arrest, followed by death. The military has even gone so far as to classify saxitoxins as Schedule 1 substances with “no practical use outside of weapons manufacture.” Fortunately, cyanobacteria are one of the easier microorganisms to filter out of drinking water. For now.

Rotifers are a relatively common microorganism that can be found pretty much everywhere in the world. And they’re also one of the most common drinking water contaminants, despite growing as large as 1mm at times (which is hardly microscopic—you can see that with your naked eye). Some of them swim, others crawl around with an inchworm motion, but none of them are known to be harmful to humans. And that’s good, because they show up in tap water fairly often.

What’s not good is that the presence of rotifers in a municipal water supply usually means that there is a problem with the filtration system—organisms that large should not be able to make it through. And rotifers are also known to act as hosts to protozoans (like cryptosporidium) and bacteria. That leads to a mirrored benefit, of sorts: rotifers can be used as a warning system to let officials know that there’s something wrong with their systems, but by the time they’re seen, there could be other things that got through as well.

The link in the previous entry pointed to a Connecticut public health bulletin meant to advise residents who might find tiny bugs swimming around in their tap water. It addresses two types of near-microscopic invertebrates: rotifers, and copepods. Of the two, copepods are larger, and possibly even more common. They can grow up to 2mm (double the size of rotifers), and they’re actually a type of crustacean, sort of like miniature shrimp. And they’re everywhere.

In the Connecticut incident, which happened in 2009, residents began finding thousands of them in small samples of water. One resident compared them to “tiny polliwogs,” and stated, “It was completely disgusting. We were drinking them, washing out clothes in them, and it was just completely nasty.” But if anything, copepods are beneficial because they often feed on toxins. Again though, the fact that they can make it through the filtration system means plenty of smaller bacteria can too.

We all know about E. coli, or Escherichia coli, a bacteria that lives in, on, and around fecal matter. It’s been publicized more times than you can shake a stick at, until by now it’s practically a legend of the bacteria world. From food to water to even more food, it’s hard to get away from. Which is why it’s sort of disconcerting to find out that all drinking water invariably has E. coli in it; it’s just kept down to levels that are considered “safe.”

Here’s the data sheet on drinking water contaminants from the Environmental Protection Agency, or EPA, of the United States. According to that sheet, E. coli is acceptable as long as it doesn’t appear in more than 5 percent of the water samples collected in a given month. So if the municipality tests their water 100 times in a month, 5 of those samples can be infected with E. coli, but the water will still be permitted to go out to the city’s residents. And once you get down to decimal places of hundredths or thousandths of a percent, you are pretty much always guaranteed to find some E. coli swimming and playing in your water.

In the world at large, the more colorful something is, the more fun you can probably have with it. And based on that logic, these mycotoxic mold spores are just a big barrel of laughs. Until they start showing up in drinking water; then you have problems. Rhizopus stolonifer is more commonly known as black bread mold; leave a piece of bread out in the open, and this will be just one of the molds that take over it.

Widely considered the most common fungus in the world, it’s not surprising that this mold shows up in tap water as well. Fungi reproduce with spores which, much like flower pollen, float through the air until they find a suitable place to land and grow. In 2006, a study looked at the concentrations of mold spores in tap water, and found that Rhizopus stolonifer appeared 2.9 percent of the time, which, arguably, is fairly low in the realm of contaminants (remember, E. coli can legally show up nearly twice as often). It’s believed to release toxins that are harmful to humans, although they’re only dangerous in higher concentrations.

This organism doesn’t look as terrifying as some of the other creatures on this list—really it just looks like a few mold splotches. It’s actually an amoeba, though, and it eats brains. To be scientific about it, the amoeba attacks a person’s nervous system by entering through their nasal cavities, killing 98 percent of its victims.

N. fowleri infections are rare, mostly because it isn’t effective if it’s consumed orally. But in 2011, two Louisiana residents died from meningoencephalitis (the disease caused by Naegleria) after making a nasal flush out of salt and tap water. When the deaths were investigated, the brain eating amoeba was found on the bathtub, shower heads, and sink faucets—the house was literally covered in it. Despite this case, most infections aren’t caused by tap water infected with N. fowleri. No, usually people get it by swimming in lakes and rivers. Have you ever accidentally sucked water up your nose while swimming?

With a name like Legionella, this bacteria already sounds dangerous. And since it was named after an American Legion convention in 1976 where it was responsible for 34 deaths and a total of 221 infections, that might be a fair assumption. The condition caused by L. pneumophila is now called Legionnaires’ disease, and it sends 18,000 people to the hospital every year. And it comes from, you guessed it, contaminated water. Symptoms of Legionnaires’ disease include confusion, fevers of up to 107 F (41.5 C), loss of coordination, vomiting, diarrhea, and muscle aches. It shows up sporadically; in 2001, more than 700 people in Spain were infected in one centralized area.

As if L. pneumophila wasn’t already dangerous enough, the U.S. military decided to take a crack at weaponizing it, leading to a genetically modified version with a 100 percent kill rate. But even if you’re not on a government hit list, you would do well to stay away from water in general.

Here’s another type of mold, and one that looks slightly more terrifying than the psychedelic funhouse in number five. Like black bread mold, Chaetomium species are fairly common in everyday life, usually floating through the air in moist locations, which can encompass everything from a swamp to your bathroom ceilings. This appears in tap water fairly rarely, but when it is there it usually makes the water taste and smell slightly “off”—normal signs to stop drinking a glass of water in any case.

Chaetomium sp. spores aren’t particularly dangerous, although in some cases they can cause an infection known as phaeohyphomycosis, which is something you definitely do not want to Google. They can also present a hazard to people who are allergic to the spores, and even that typically only happens with chronic exposure.

One of the first things we learn as children is that you always cook chicken, and if you handle it raw you better scrub those hands nice and good. The reason, of course, is salmonella, which has such a long history of infection it’s not even possible to link to them all here. Usually salmonella shows up on food such as beef, spinach, and of course, chicken (hedgehogs too, surprisingly). Less commonly, salmonella causes outbreaks through none other than our friendly neighborhood drinking water.

In 2008, Colorado tap water was responsible for 79 cases of salmonella poisoning, which caused fevers and vomiting. People with weak immune systems, like the elderly, are especially susceptible to salmonella. Another study looked at the water supply of Togo, Africa, and found 26 cases of salmonella contamination, suggesting that developing countries are at a greater risk for bacterial infections from drinking water. It’s sort of common sense, but it’s beneficial to have figures to see what exactly is causing illnesses in these areas.

As Benjamin Franklin once said, “In wine there is wisdom, in beer there is freedom, in water there is bacteria.” We’ll take the wine.

The human body contains from 55% to 78% water, depending on body size. To function properly, the body requires between one and seven liters of water per day to avoid dehydration. Clearly, water is an essential part of human life. But under the right circumstances, as if you were a dwindling camp fire, water can extinguish you in in a variety of interesting ways.

Hypothermia is a condition in which your core body temperature drops below the required temperature for normal metabolism and body functions. For humans, this threshold is defined as 35.0 °C (95.0 °F). If you are exposed to cold and your body’s internal mechanisms are unable to replenish the heat that is being lost, a drop in core temperature occurs. As body temperature decreases, characteristic symptoms like shivering and mental confusion begin to set in. Heat is lost more quickly in water than on land. Water temperatures that would be quite reasonable as outdoor air temperatures can lead to hypothermia. For example, a water temperature of 10 °C (50 °F) can lead to death in as little as one hour, and water temperatures hovering at freezing can lead to death in as little as 15 minutes. A notable example of this occurred during the sinking of the Titanic (pictured above), in which most people who entered the ?2 °C (28 °F) water died within 15–30 minutes.

Scalding is a form of burning caused by heated fluids that come into contact with your skin. Most scalds are considered first or second degree burns, but third or even fourth degree burns can result, especially with prolonged contact. Death by boiling (pictured above) takes advantage of this principle. It is a method of execution in which a person is killed by being immersed in boiling water. While not as common as other methods of execution, boiling to death has been used in many parts of Europe and Asia. Executions of this type were often carried out using a large vessel such as a cauldron or a sealed kettle. Depending on the intended cruelty, the victim was either immersed before the liquid was heated or plunged head first into the already boiling water.

Death in these cases was by severe scalding caused by the hot liquids. Immersion burns would form on the arms, torso and legs. Prolonged scalding would result in anything up to fourth-degree burns of the skin. The epidermis and the dermis are destroyed, leading to the complete breakdown of subcutaneous fat. Eventually the heat would expose muscle, leading to breaches in major arteries and veins. Scalding deaths also take place on occasion when people underestimate the temperature of a natural hot spring and decide to go swimming.

Ice is simply water frozen into a solid state. It appears naturally in many forms, like snowflakes for example. Snowflakes may be harmless individually but their strength grows in numbers. An avalanche is a large and potentially deadly mass of rapidly flowing snow down a slope. Avalanches are typically triggered by a mechanical failure in the snowpack where the forces on the snow exceed its strength. After initiation, avalanches usually accelerate rapidly and grow in mass and volume as they entrain more snow.

85.7% of avalanche deaths are due to asphyxiation. If you should find yourself caught in one, and you manage to carve out a little air space around your face as the slide grinds to a halt, heat from your breath will soon ice up that lifesaving air cavity. This impenetrable “ice mask” may asphyxiate you within half an hour. Fewer than half of those who are totally buried survive, and nobody who’s been buried deeper than seven feet has lived to tell about it. During World War I, an estimated 40,000 to 80,000 soldiers died as a result of avalanches during the mountain campaign in the Alps at the Austrian-Italian front.

Waterborne diseases are caused by pathogenic microorganisms transmitted in contaminated fresh water. Throughout most of the world, the most common contamination of raw water sources is from human sewage. Infection commonly results during bathing, washing, drinking, or during the preparation of food. Various forms of waterborne diarrheal disease are the most prominent examples. Such diseases affect mainly children in developing countries and account for about 1.8 million deaths annually. Parameters for drinking water quality fall under two main categories: microbiological and chemical. Microbiological parameters include Coliform bacteria, E. coli, and specific pathogenic species of bacteria, viruses, and protozoan parasites. Chemical parameters tend to pose more of a chronic health risk through buildup of heavy metals. For example, sixty million people are estimated to have been poisoned by well water contaminated by excessive fluoride.

Water is an essential part of human survival and drinking it inevitably leads to urination. Hopefully, this entry will dispel an interesting medical myth: that you can die by “holding it in” and forcing yourself not to urinate. You can die indirectly, by causing a urinary tract infection (which could then lead to death), but you can’t die from a ruptured bladder due to not going to the bathroom. Your urethral sphincters make it physically impossible to build up urine in your bladder to the point of rupture. The kidneys and ureters cannot produce enough pressure to burst the bladder. When there is an obstruction, the kidneys fail first. In the case of trying to hold it, the body would protect the kidneys by reacting violently, forcing urethral sphincters to fail and causing the person to wet themselves.

Contrary to popular belief, Tycho Brahe never died of “retaining urine at the banquet table out of politeness”. The actual cause of death is assumed to be a kidney stone that rendered him to be unable to pass urine. The blockage lead first to kidney failure and then ultimately his death.

There are a number of reasons why it is potentially deadly to drive in the rain. Rain makes for slippery roads, especially when it has not rained in a long time. This is because greasy substances like lubricants and oil drip from cars as people drive, and these substances accumulate on the surface of the road until they are washed away. The first rain can loosen these greasy materials, creating an oily slick on the surface of the road which can make driving very dangerous. A long, hard rain can also cause deep puddles on the surface of the road which may cause your car to hydroplane, essentially skimming across the water. Poorly drained roads can be covered in huge pools of water which may not seem deep or serious until you drive on them and your car spins out of control. Also, poor visibility caused by heavy rain is a major threat, as you may be less aware of oncoming cars, pedestrians, and hazards in the road. It is estimated that over 3,000 people die per year from rain related auto accidents just in the United States alone.

Although pure water does not conduct electricity by itself (I bet you didn’t know that!), any impurities, like salts in the water, enable it to be an extremely effective conductor. When salts are dissolved in water, they separate into positive Na ions and negative Cl ions. These opposite charges, like the opposite poles of a battery, create the potential for the conductive effect. Waters conductive properties make it very dangerous as it allows an electric current to travel through it rapidly and shock any unsuspecting person in contact with the water.

Electric shock occurs upon contact of a human body part with any source of electricity that causes a sufficient current through the skin, muscles, or hair. Large currents passing through the body may make it impossible for a shock victim to let go of an energized object. Still larger currents can cause fibrillation of the heart, damage to tissues, and death. For example, in 2012 two boys were electrocuted while swimming in a lake in Knoxville, Tennessee. As it turns out, a boat house floating at a dock nearby had frayed wiring that became exposed and contacted the lake water. The five adults who jumped in the water to help were also shocked.

Chinese water torture is a process in which water is slowly dripped onto a person’s forehead, driving the restrained victim insane. Hippolytus de Marsiliis, born in Italy in 1451, is credited with the invention of this form of water torture. Having observed how drops of water falling one by one on a stone gradually created a hollow, he applied the method to the human body. The term “Chinese water torture” was invented merely to grant the method a sense of ominous mystery. A documented account of such torture during the Spanish Inquisition reads as follows: “Victims were strapped down so that they could not move, and cold or warm water was then dripped slowly on to a small area of the body; usually the forehead. The forehead was found to be the most suitable point for this form of torture because of its sensitivity: prisoners could see each drop coming, and after long durations were gradually driven frantic as a perceived hollow would form in the center of the forehead.”

A tsunami is a series of water waves caused by the displacement of a large volume of a body of water, generally an ocean or a large lake. Earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, landslides, glacier calvings, meteorite impacts, and other disturbances above or below water all have the potential to generate a tsunami. While everyday wind waves have a wavelength (from crest to crest) of about 100 meters (330 ft.) and a height of roughly 2 meters (6.6 ft.), a tsunami in the deep ocean has a wavelength of about 200 kilometers (120 mi)! Yes, you read that correctly. Such a wave travels at well over 800 kilometers per hour (500 mph).

Tsunamis cause damage by two mechanisms: the smashing force of a wall of water traveling at high speed, and the destructive power of a large volume of water draining off the land and carrying a large amount of debris with it, even with waves that do not look large. Although the impact of tsunamis is limited to coastal areas, their destructive power can be enormous and they can affect entire ocean basins; the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami was among the deadliest natural disasters in human history with over 230,000 people killed in 14 countries bordering the Indian Ocean.

Water intoxication, also known as water poisoning or dilutional hyponatremia, is a potentially fatal disturbance in brain functions that results when the normal balance of electrolytes in the body is pushed outside safe limits by over-hydration. Under normal circumstances, accidentally consuming too much water is exceptionally rare. Nearly all deaths related to water intoxication in normal individuals have resulted either from water drinking contests in which individuals attempt to consume large amounts of water, or long bouts of intensive exercise during which electrolytes are not properly replenished, yet huge amounts of fluid are still consumed. Moreover, water cure, a method of torture in which the victim is forced to consume excessive amounts of water, can cause water intoxication.

Water, just like any other substance, can be considered a poison when over-consumed in a specific period of time. For example, in 2003, Walter Dean Jennings, a freshman history major at SUNY Plattsburgh, died while pledging to a campus fraternity. On his last night of hazing, the 18-year-old was forced to drink gallons of water through a funnel, which caused his brain to swell from water intoxication and ultimately resulted in his death.

Ross works as a patent agent and is a long time Listverse reader.

Bizarre and sometimes dangerous marine worms represent genuine monstrosities in animal form. These creatures can display the worst possible combination of being slimy and “toothy”. Prepare for a science fiction-turned-reality journey into the weird and wild world of water worms that slither and chomp their way through ocean life.

10. The Bootlace Worm

Too long to believe

Just how long can a worm get? Maybe try asking a Bootlace Worm next time you tie your laces at the beach. Reaching a crazy length of up to 180 feet, the Bootlace worm Lineus longissimus is not merely the longest worm on the planet. It is the world’s longest animal, period. Being the longest is not enough horror for this record-breaker. The worm outdoes itself by being superbly poisonous to boot. The worm creates a potent toxin that is contained within the slimy mucous secreted by the worm. This hazardous chemical soup was found to be a peptide-based compound in the course of investigation by Professor Ulf Göransson and colleagues at Uppsala University in Sweden. The primary toxin in the mucus could immobilize invertebrates such as crustaceans and insects. Interestingly, deadly peptides are found in cone shells from the tropics, but the discovery of bootlace worm toxicity represents a cold-water example. The bootlace worm thrives in chilly waters off European coasts. As a poisonous rather than venomous animal, the bootlace worm is an interesting case given the worm’s use of poisonous mucus to hunt. Typically, a poisonous animal uses a toxin as a defense against being eaten, whereas a hunter would inject venom.

9. Osedax Worms

Oceanic Undertakers

Ocean-going killers of cetaceans such as large sharks and Orcas might have some little accomplices in the form of worms that take care of the evidence. What happens to whale bones when they sink to the bottom of the sea? Why might it be hard to find many whale skeletons? They get eaten. Little marine worms called Osedax crave bone minerals and actually feed on the bones of whales. Nature lets nearly nothing go to waste and bone-eating seems to be working well for these creatures.

The so-called “Zombie worms” are a fairly new discovery, first observed in 2002 in the wild thanks to advances in deep-sea exploration before being scientifically described in the lab in 2004. The worms were discovered at a depth of 10,000 feet feeding in a grey whale skeleton. Crazier yet, these creatures lack a stomach or a mouth. Osadex worms just secrete acid that melts bone, releasing meat-like nutrients for the worms to take up through the work of symbiotic bacteria that proceed to break down the actual nutrients. Only females do the acid drilling, while males live inside the females as microscopic organisms. Would the worms eat a dead human? Pretty likely, since they have fed on cow bones at sea…

8. Piling Worm

Mating En Masse

When the lunar signals are right, huge marine worms common in the Pacific Northwest called Giant piling worms, grow up to a foot-long swarm to the surface and mate. The majority of the time, the creatures stay hidden in the sand, collecting food with their pincer-like jaws. Imagine swimming at night and being surrounded by foot-long marine worms. No thanks.

The marine pile worm species was identified as Nereis brandti, a type of polychaete worm, according to Louise Page, a biologist from the University of Victoria in BC, Canada. Page listed sand-dwelling habits as the typical behavior of the worms outside of mating season. The enormous size of the worms is off-putting to would-be adventurers, and reinforced by the presence of jaws which could deliver a painful bite thanks to the sharp appendages around the mouth. The swarming behavior gives rise to the fertilization of eggs and the appearance of tiny larval worms. Upon maturation, the worms may seem scary, but are actually most focused on eating algae. Their jaws are usually used to defend territory but offer only limited protection when the worms swim through the water, vulnerable to countless larger hunters.

7. Antarctic Scale Worm

Horror at the South Pole

Covered in bristles with dentacle jaws that look like something from the movie “Tremors”, the stubby, horrific-looking Antarctic scale worm Eulagisca gigantea could certainly deliver a nasty bite. Growing nearly eight inches long, the marine worm’s scaly body acts as camouflage against the sea bed. But then it can rise up and attack prey with its proboscis which looks like a head with massive teeth. The hunter’s jaws efficiently rip into prey, serving as a powerful hunting tool that is a true concealed weapon. uses its jaws to rip into a variety of prey items, but if that is not enough, they are a true concealed weapon.

The worm can simply invert the appendage and pull it back into its body. Anytime there is an opportunity, outshoot the jaws. While the dentitions are not true teeth, being in an invertebrate, they are a pretty high-quality likeness of a wolf’s fangs, albeit attached to a marine worm’s body. The creature is then partially beautiful in addition to being partially horrible-looking. It is covered in bristly hairs that have a shiny golden appearance, offering an incongruous contrast to the worm’s monstrous capabilities. Prey items are simply ripped up by the sci-fi-worthy creature that has no problem remaining active in icy waters. With its fitting Latin binomial gigantea, the hefty creature can descend to depths of over 1,600 feet.

6. Fat Innkeeper Worm

The Ugly Guest Host

Known in common language as the Fat Innkeeper Worm, Urechis unicinctus is an awful-looking creature, often compared to a penis in appearance. Yet its activities provide valuable habitat for a wide range of marine life that take refuge in the burrows they create. The bizarre worm is huge, bulbous, and beige and is named due to both its looks and the habit of creating horseshoe-shaped burrows that serve as invaluable “inns” for a vast range of intertidal creatures. Gobies, other worm varieties, and even small crabs use the burrows, without harming or helping the fat innkeeper worm itself. The creature is a denizen of estuarine, brackish waters, and mudflats, hanging out around coastal wetlands that are unfortunately extremely vulnerable to climate change and development-based disruptions.

The fat innkeeper worm feeds on plankton and is well known from the coast of California. Belonging to the phylum Echiura, the creatures may reach seven inches in length, large enough to startle beachgoers should be encounter one for the first time. In addition to maintaining “inns” for small creatures, the worms themselves are a veritable buffet course for larger visitors to wetlands, including bat rays, which suck up the worms, and opportunistic otters.

5.  Multi-Butt Worm

Ifs, Butts & Maybes

No ifs or maybes, but plenty of but(t)s? Yes indeed. There is a marine worm with one head and well over 100 derrieres, according to recent findings. The annelid worm species Ramisyllis multicaudata is distantly related to the familiar earthworm but inhabits oceans instead of gardens and lives in sea sponges that serve as hosts. Research published in the Journal of Morphology describes how the worms use the hollowed-out interiors of marine sponges, an even simpler life form as a place of residence. How the worms feed is a matter of further research interest, given the lack of digested food found in the digestive tracts of the marine worms upon examination.

What is well documented is the importance of the many butts of the worms in reproduction, but not in the way you might expect. Each worm butt actually breaks away eventually and develops eyes and a brain before developing into a brand new worm that starts the life cycle over again. In extreme cases, the number of rears on a Ramisyllis multicaudata worm could be far more than reasonable imaginable. Up to 1,000 rear ends may be part of one worm.

4. The Burning Worm

Fire Under the Sea

Danger often comes in small bundles and that is the case with certain marine worms. While they only grow up to be about three to four inches in length, the worm community’s answer to the lionfish, scorpion, and stinging nettle is nothing to mess with. Found in warm tropical waters, Bearded fireworms Hermodice carunculata are covered in horrifying bristles that unload venom onto anyone or anything unlucky enough to touch them. Ouch! These toxic sea creatures are associated with Western and limited central Atlantic habitats that include coral reefs, under rocks, and even nestled in flotsam and jetsam drifting along the waves at sea.

The awful bristles are shiny and beautiful, having a resplendent appearance similar to a lionfish or sea anemone.  The worm’s hollowed-out bristles effortlessly slide into the flesh of any creature that comes into contact with them and snap away, leaving bristles embedded. This causes mechanical and chemical irritation akin to being stung by a bee. To be fair, the worms do give out a warning first if bothered by first flaring out their bristles. Clearly, one of the laws of the sea to remember at all times is when in doubt, do not touch!

3. Parchment Worm

The Animal, The Machine

Looking like a literal paper dragon, the parchment worm Chaetopterus variopedatus constructs its burrow out of an extension of its body. While fragile, it is a strange mix of graceful and absolutely grotesque. The creature is gentle and feeds on plankton that it traps, and is not an aggressive hunter like many of the tougher worms in this account. Growing to about 10 inches in length, the worm is a bizarre but successful animal as a globally distributed generalist found in both tropical and cooler waters.

The feeding strategy of the parchment worm is decidedly odd. The worm’s body is formed by three sections, which include mouth and bristly body segments. Next, there is a structure that forms mucous and secreted mud-based bags in the center, with segments that pump water into the body tube. Finally, a third section made up of many segments in a row concludes the body plan. The remarkably mechanical animals simply bag up food filtered from the water in mucous and mud “capsules” and swallow them like pellets for digestion.

2. Spaghetti Worm

A Rebel among Worms

If you dumped a bowl of noodles on the seafloor, you would have a crazy-looking creature that looks exactly like either spaghetti come to life, or even a crawling mop head. All you see are the tentacle-like extensions as the worm winds along the seabed in search of meals. Unlike many marine worms, the spaghetti worm spends its life in the open, not needing the protection of a burrow. The creature is still in the process of being given a species name.

The discovery of the creature is fairly new, with the first sighting and description taking place during a research trip in the Gulf of California by the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute (MBARI). This “dancing mop” may look vulnerable but apparently, the array of appendages allows the worm to collect small food items, all without having any eyes! The worm is a type of polychaete marine worm and belongs to the genus Biremis. Given the importance of polychaete worms in the marine environment, there is a World Polychaete Day which is July 1st to celebrate their existence. Footage of the mysterious Biremis species was first released on July 1st, 2012, nine years after its discovery by MBARI researchers to mark the special day.

1. The Bobbit Worm

Worse than Science Fiction

What creature bursts from the sea floor and grabs or even saws or scissors its prey right in half? The horrific Bobbit Worm Eunice aphroditois, armed with massive fangs that have a convergent resemblance to teeth can slice fish in half, right through the spine, and deliver a nasty bite if provoked. Stinging bristles just add to the nightmare. The worm is also dangerous to humans and should be viewed with great respect, not just curiosity. Drably colored segments of the worm are accented with iridescent highlights that add a dash of beauty to unimaginable ugliness.

The worm is akin to a viper, equipped with massive fanglike pincers that are attached to the head. The force generated by the bite combines with the shocking striking speed to make encountering this animal a little bit like brushing into an underwater mine. In addition to the risks posed by a bite, the toxic bristles are capable of causing long-term nerve damage if the animal is handled unwittingly. Disturbingly, this animal can on occasion reach 10 feet in length and weigh around one pound in the most extreme cases. That said, it is certainly possible larger and more vicious specimens are waiting to be discovered.

Over the last several years, summers have been increasingly brutal in many parts of the world. Cities in the Southwest United States have had to plan for droughts and water conservation initiatives. Nearly all parts of the United States have experienced at least some drought since the year 2000 and it’s a trend that is replicated all over the world. 

You would think that, given the prevalence of worldwide droughts, we might be more careful with water. You’d think that if you hadn’t experienced humans and their tendency to shoot themselves in the foot, at least. In reality, we waste water in ways that are almost hard to imagine. 

10. One Farming Family Uses More Water Than All of Las Vegas

Farms need water and most of us would accept this as a reasonable course of business. No matter what the farm produces, from lettuce to apples to beef, water has to be used to make that happen, and we place more value on the farmed product than the water itself. But can there be a point when a farm uses too much water? Is there a limit there?

A single family, who owns large amounts of farmland, was found to use more water than the entire Las Vegas Valley during a 2023 investigation. The Abbati family, whose farming empire is worth millions, used 260,000 acre-feet of water. That number is beyond anything you can imagine if you aren’t familiar with acre-feet.

One acre-foot, just one, is 326,000 gallons. So 260,000 acre-feet is 84,721,371,429 gallons. In contrast, the Las Vegas Valley used 200,000 acre-feet. 

Most of the water in that part of the world is used in the Imperial Irrigation District where 20 farming families use more water than a combined 300 others, totaling about 387 billion gallons in 2022. That district has the largest claim to water from the Colorado River, and one in seven drops goes to these farmers, many of whom don’t actually grow vegetables for human consumption. 

The bulk of their land is used to grow hay for livestock. Some of the hay is even sold to other countries in what critics have likened to essentially selling water abroad since the farmers only pay $20 per acre-foot.

Because water rights were guaranteed to local farmers nearly a century ago, and the current farmers are the grandchildren and great-grandchildren of those farmers, they still get to operate under the old agreements guaranteeing them all the water they want, even as reservoirs reach historically low levels. 

9. It Takes 3 Gallons of Water to Produce a Single Almond

Sometimes you feel like a nut, sometimes you don’t. But if you do, think long and hard about what that nut costs. Some of our favorite crops absolutely lay waste to water. A single almond requires over three gallons of water to grow. How does the math on that play out? 

One pound of almonds is about 400 nuts, give or take. A single tree can produce between 50 and 65 lbs of nuts. So, at 50 lbs, we’re looking at 20,000 nuts. So that’s 60,000 gallons per tree. If an orchard can produce 4,500 lbs of nuts, then it’s using 5.4 million gallons of water to do so. If there are 7,600 almond farms in California each growing about that much then that requires 41,040,000,000 gallons. This is all for almonds, 70% of which are exported. 

The amount of water used to grow all the almonds that California exports in a year could ensure water for everyone in Los Angeles for three years. Almonds use 10% of all of California’s water, more than Los Angeles and San Francisco combined. 

This may make you look at almonds negatively but remember that even corn uses a lot of water. It takes 110 gallons of water to make one pound of corn. America produced 346 million tons of corn in 2022-2023.

8. Golf Courses Use Billions of Gallons Per Day

If you’re a golfer, you may already be aware of the staggering water usage at most golf courses around the world. But there’s a good chance if you know they use a lot of water, you still don’t know what a lot means. It’s two billion gallons. And while that’s a huge number, it gets so much worse. That’s per day.

There are over 16,000 golf courses in America, more than half the world total, in fact. The average course will use 312,000 gallons per day but desert courses, like those in Palm Springs, can use a million all by themselves. 

7. Reverse Osmosis Systems Can Waste Gallons of Water For Every One They Clean

Everyone prefers drinking clean water to sloppy filth so, for some, a reverse osmosis system is the way to go. In your home, these systems force water through a membrane that separates H2O from other molecules and gives you snazzy, clean water in the end. They work as advertised and you will get the clean water you want. The problem is the waste. 

Different systems will have greater or lesser success but even the best systems can waste as much as 5 gallons of water for every clean gallon they produce. Some studies have shown that a reverse osmosis system can waste 20 times as much water as it can produce. Newer models claim to offer 1:1 technology but they are harder to find and definitely cost more.

6. Up to 37 Gallons Go Into Making a Single Roll of Toilet Paper

Toilet paper is one of the most bizarre products in the world. You pay good money for it, and these days you pay a lot, knowing full well exactly what’s going to happen to it sooner or later. While TP is king in North America, many places elsewhere choose bidets. Some Americans argue that’s a waste of water, but is it? Is there an upside to toilet paper?

Toilet paper use in America is the equivalent of pulping 15 million trees. Worse, it requires 473,587,500,000 gallons of water to make that paper, or about 37 gallons per roll. A bidet would not, in fact, take up 37 gallons to reach the equivalent cleaning power of one roll of toilet paper. 

You use about one-eighth of a gallon with a single bidet use, meaning 296 squirts before you reach the water used to make one roll of toilet paper. And, keep in mind you still need to flush the toilet paper which, even with a low-flow toilet is 1.6 gallons. You’ve just added 473 gallons to your toilet paper waste if you’re matching those 296 bidet uses. 

5. It Takes 17 Million Barrels of Oil To Make Bottled Water Bottles

The numbers behind how wasteful bottled water is are pretty remarkable. For people who have no access to clean water, bottled water is a literal lifesaver. But for the rest of us, it’s hard to make sense of the obsession when you break it down.

About 25% of bottled water is tap water, the company just bottles its own municipal supply. That doesn’t mean it’s poor quality, but it does mean you can save a lot of money just by drinking tap water. Coke and Pepsi both bottle tap water that has gone through some filters but there’s never been a study suggesting bottled water is healthier, safer, or even cleaner than most tap water. In fact, the filtering to make bottled water removes minerals like calcium and magnesium, making bottled water less healthy. 

Despite the fact it offers little, Americans bought nearly 16 billion gallons of bottled water in 2022. Ignoring the other facts, making bottles for water also uses 17 million barrels of oil per year. That figure was from back in 2006, too, and consumption has increased dramatically since that time so oil use likely has as well. 

4. Chocolate Requires More Water Than Nearly Any Other Crop

We touched on the water needed to grow almonds and corn and even make toilet paper, but what about chocolate? Surely chocolate hides no terrible, wasteful secrets. Alas. This one’s going to be ugly.

Everyone has heard that raising cattle is wasteful in terms of resources. It takes 1,910 gallons of water to produce a pound of beef. But chocolate? That requires 17,196 liters to produce a kilogram. That’s about 4,542 gallons per kilogram which works out to just over 2,000 gallons per pound. So a cow and a Hershey bar take roughly the same investment in terms of water.  One single chocolate bar is going to require up to 2,000 liters or 528 gallons.

3. Hand Washing Dishes Wastes More Than 5 Times The Water of a Dishwasher

How do you do your dishes? Your options are basically limited to handwashing in a sink or using a dishwasher. If you have a dishwasher, you’ll be happy to know it’s the far better option if you have an eye to water conservation. If you load it properly and make sure it’s full, your dishwasher uses 5 to 7 times less water than hand washing.

When you wash in the sink, you could be using up to 20 gallons. A good, energy-efficient dishwasher will only use four gallons. Other sources suggest hand washing can use as much as 27 gallons while a new model dishwasher may use as little as three. Obviously, there’s a lot of wiggle room here based on how you wash dishes and what kind of dishwasher you have. That said, over the course of a year, a good dishwasher can save 5,000 gallons.

2. Starbucks Used to Waste 6 Million Gallons a Day For No Reason

If you’re the type of person who already doesn’t like Starbucks then this one will hit home for you. Back in 2008, it was discovered that Starbucks was wasting six million gallons of water every day because they forced employees to keep a sink running non-stop as a time saver. 

The sink, called a dipper well, was the one employees used to rinse off utensils. The infinite wisdom of Starbucks management was that, if the sink never stopped running, it couldn’t build germs and was, therefore, more sanitary. Staff was literally forbidden from turning the water off. 

When a UK paper learned of the running tap, they started contacting various Starbucks branches to ask about it and many of them didn’t know what the sink was for and never even used it, but they all kept it running as per company policy. 

Experts were also quick to point out that keeping a sink running would have no impact on sanitation and there are countless ways to keep a place clean that don’t require wasting 6 million gallons of water. 

1. Cruise Ships Dump 150,000 Gallons of Sewage into the Ocean Daily

Who doesn’t love a cruise ship? Aside from the people who have had to poop in bags, or been stranded, or endured a viral outbreak? They have all the amenities of a hotel but they’re on the water and, you know, they also dump massive amounts of sewage into the ocean.

It’s been estimated that a 3,000-person ship will dump around 150,000 gallons of sewage into the ocean every week. One vessel managed to drop 74,000 gallons in a day. 

Governments often ban the dumping of waste, including sewage, in coastal waters but that’s just in coastal waters. These are cruise ships. They wait until they hit international waters and then the toilet gets flushed. It’s not just sewage, either. The vessels produce much larger amounts of gray water from showers and laundry facilities, as well as oily bilge water, all of which gets dumped into the sea.

Summer means days of sun, swim, and fun. Families all over the world migrate to water parks to combine all three, hopefully avoiding danger. Whether they’re local pools or extreme waterslides, water-based attractions provide no shortage of excitement and entertainment. The International Association of Amusement Parks and Attractions (IAAPA) reports that in the US alone, these parks directly contribute over $50 billion to the economy annually and provide jobs to upwards of 2.3 million people.^[1]

Despite nearly all water parks providing a family-friendly atmosphere, there is no doubt that these enjoyable summer destinations also provide attractions to satisfy even the most hardened thrill-seekers. These extreme rides have been known to cause injury or even death. The following list is sure to intensify your thirst for water adventure (pun intended) while also providing relief from the soaring temperatures and scorching sun of the summer season.

10 World’s Tallest Waterslide

Measuring a staggering 51.4 meters (168.6 ft) tall, the dangerous Guinness World Record–holding Verruckt waterslide translates from the German language to “crazy” or “insane.” The waterslide, located at Schlitterbahn in Kansas City, Kansas, was announced late 2012. The ride, delayed by construction complications, eventually opened to the masses at the end of July 2014. The ride was designed by the co-owner of the water park, Jeff Henry, to accommodate three people in an adventure that plummets 17 stories downward at speeds of up to 100 kilometers per hour (60 mph). The spectacular slide is taller than both Niagara Falls and the Statue of Liberty (not counting the base). The controversial design features hundreds of steps to reach the top.

In a gruesome incident which took place in August 2016, Caleb Schwab, son of Republican state representative Scott Schwab, suffered a “fatal neck injury” while riding Verruckt and died immediately.^[2] His death shocked the community and ultimately resulted in the (still) planned demolition of the slide. The Associated Press suggests that Kansas “is known for its light regulation of amusement park rides.” Unfortunately, it appears the slide was too extreme and resulted in catastrophe.

9 World’s Longest Waterslide

Located at Action Park in Vernon, New Jersey, the world’s longest waterslide measures 602 meters (1,975 ft) long, which equates to over one-third of a mile! The unnamed waterslide is composed of 20 sections, each 30 meters (100 ft) long. The primary material of the slide is polyvinyl chloride, which is also used to make the bounce houses that children enjoy. You guessed it: That means that this slide is inflatable. It takes over two hours to fill with air, utilizes approximately 3,800 liters (1,000 gal) of water per hour, and offers rides that can last up to 90 seconds.^[3]

The slide was certified by Guinness World Records in 2015 as the longest waterslide, but it was not open to the public. The ride hadn’t established a weight limit, so its potential for danger was relatively unknown. Another factor was the “lengthy process” of state certification. However, a select few employees were allowed to take their turn on the record-setting ride.

8 World’s Longest Water Coaster

It’s not just a slide; it’s a water coaster! Mammoth, located at Holiday World & Splashin’ Safari in Santa Claus, Indiana, is constructed of a combination of slides as well as a conveyor belt, allowing riders to have a similar experience to a roller coaster, while being drenched in water. The ride, which opened May 2012, dethroned its record-holding predecessor, Wildebeest, which is located at the same water park. Mammoth’s unparalleled twists, turns, and rises total a length of 537 meters (1,763 ft.)^[4]

The coaster is designed for rafts of up to six people, situated to face inward, ensuring that families can enjoy the record-setting fun together. These brave Mammoth riders will experience six drops along the coaster’s track. Spinning down the winding path, which overlooks the rest of the expansive Holiday World & Splashin’ Safari water park, may be the optimal ride for the ultimate thrill-seeker.

7 World’s Tallest Water Coaster

Schlitterbahn Galveston Island’s water coaster, MASSIV, lives up to its name. The depth-defying attraction, located in Galveston, Texas, is perched 24.9 meters (81.6 ft) in the sky and was created to mark the site’s tenth anniversary.^[5] The water coaster consists of several uphill climbs and a compensating triple drop near the end. The ride has been certified by Guinness World Records as the tallest water coaster.

Although riders simply enjoy the waterslide for its thrill, there was no lack of exacting science that went into its creation. Schlitterbahn’s lead designer, Emily Colombo, remarked on how balancing “g-forces, ride dynamics, and velocities” was vital to yielding a successful ride. The coaster is sure to be enjoyed by all, due to its variation in speed and vigor. The park’s general manager commented that this versatility is “something we are always looking for in our attractions.”

6 World’s Longest Lazy River

Providing some respite for thrill-seekers and Heaven for relaxers, the lazy river at BSR Cable Park in Waco, Texas, is just shy of 1.6 kilometers (1 mi) long.^[6] This earns it the title of longest lazy river in the world. The lazy river offers parts drenched in sun and parts covered in shade, catering to all riders’ preferences.

While it doesn’t vary greatly from other lazy rivers, what it lacks in uniqueness, it makes up in sheer size. The river is adult- and kid-friendly and guaranteed to satisfy the need for summer refreshment, especially given the sizzling temperatures Texas can see during the season.

5 World’s Largest Outdoor Wave Pool

The first non-US destination on the list is Siam Park City (a water park, not a city) in the Khan Na Yao district of Bangkok, Thailand. Not only is it Asia’s largest water park, but it certifiably possesses the world’s largest wave pool, according to Guinness World Records. The wave pool is an astounding 13,600 square meters (146,400 ft²) and a destination for young children and adult thrill-seekers alike. The pool has the potential to generate waves up to 1.5 meters (5 ft) high but is controlled not to exceed 60 centimeters (24 in) to ensure the safety of all patrons.^[7]

Despite the countermeasures in place, wave pools still pose a safety threat, especially to children. When children enter a wave pool to a depth above their height, the constant flow of water and uneven conditions make it the perfect storm for drowning. But for most, this wave pool can be a great compromise between the flowing waters of a lazy river and the rushing rapids of a water coaster.

4 World’s Largest Indoor Wave Pool

Shifting back across the globe to the West Edmonton Mall in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, is the World Waterpark, which features the world’s largest indoor wave pool, called Blue Thunder. Blue Thunder possess four active wave bays, each containing two panels powered by a 1,500-horsepower hydraulic implement. There are two additional wave bays that have been deactivated, a consequence of overwhelming injury due to the excessive intensity of the waves! When all panels were enabled, the waves were too high and rough for even the most experienced swimmers.^[8]

With the seemingly endless rush of water feet above a swimmer’s head, the outcome is never promising. Thus, Blue Thunder today generates waves of 1.5 to 1.8 meters (5–6 ft), utilizing only the inner wave bays. The pool can hold a whopping 12.3 million liters (3.2 million gal) of water. Blue Thunder is also frequently used after hours for private surfing, kayaking, paddleboarding, and other related endeavors. The waves are then adjusted accordingly to become more intense.

3 World’s Longest Tube Waterslide

What is located in Erding, Germany, is 356.3 meters (1,169 ft) long, and ensures enjoyment along the way? The Magic-Eye at Galaxy Erding water park, of course. This ride is the longest inner tube waterslide in the entire world, as certified by Guinness World Records in November 2010.^[9] No recent attempts have been able to surpass the legendary length of Magic-Eye. The waterslide opened May 2007 and was built by Klarer Freizeitanlagen AG, Switzerland, a world-renowned leader in waterslide construction.

Magic-Eye’s record-setting length is complemented by its 22-meter (72 ft) height. The tube slide features a distinct interior distinguished by continuous seemingly glowing lines that create an unmatched viewing experience while riding. The design can be overwhelming to some patrons due to its strobe-style effect, which could arguably be potentially fatal if someone with epilepsy were to ride the waterslide alone.

2 The United States’ Largest Outdoor Water Park

Noah’s Ark Water Park in Wisconsin Dells, Wisconsin, is the United States’ largest outdoor water park, totaling 70 acres.^[10] Although the park doesn’t possess any record-setting attractions of their own accord, the 51 rides work together, marking Noah’s Ark as the crown jewel of Wisconsin Dells, dubbed the “water park capital of the world.” Despite the town’s small population, it contains 28 water parks, with Noah’s Ark undoubtedly the focal point.

Thrill-seekers can enjoy rides that, for example, offer a near-vertical drop in which the floor gives out beneath riders or a 400-meter-long (1,300 ft) water coaster that showcases unexpected turns and bumps. On the other end of the spectrum, those in search of a more relaxed day at Noah’s Ark Water Park can enjoy a ride on the lazy river or a dip in the wave pool, which alternates wave functionality on and off every ten minutes.

Some of the more extreme rides have been known to malfunction. For instance, it is not uncommon for riders to get stuck on the Scorpion, in which they actually do a loop (similar to a roller coaster). This goes to demonstrate the truly risky nature of water entertainment. Although the weather of Wisconsin fluctuates from sweltering in the summer to freezing in the winter, Wisconsin Dells also provides an abundance of indoor water parks that will fulfill aquatic adrenaline-chasers’ desires year-round.

1 World’s Largest Indoor Water Park

Rounding out the list, we’re headed back to Germany to the sprawling Tropical Islands Resort, located in Krausnick, a bit southeast from the capital, Berlin. This jaw-dropping indoor water park utilizes more than 16 acres of land and can accommodate up to 6,000 guests at any given time.^[11]

The luxurious Tropical Islands Resort serves patrons of all ages, featuring paddling areas and proportionate waterslides for youth as well as bigger attractions and a Bali-inspired lagoon, perfect for adults seeking both adventure and relaxation. Tropical Islands Resort is climate-controlled and topped with a glass roof, allowing everyone to immerse themselves in the sunshine, regardless of the varying temperatures, all year long.

Food and drink are some of the most essential parts of life—we could not live without the sustenance they provide. Although there are some people in the world who are truly starving and would eat anything, modern man in most industrialized civilizations has made something of a hobby out of eating.

SEE ALSO: Top 10 Failed McDonald’s Products

We spend millions on new designs and innovations to create foods and new cooking techniques that the world has never seen before. Here are 10 that will make your mouth water.

10 A Swiss Chocolatier Has Perfected His Formula For A New ‘Ruby’ Chocolate

For the longest time, we have been stuck with nearly the same varieties of chocolate, although you won’t hear most people complaining about that. Of course, there is the delicious white chocolate. Most varieties of milk or dark chocolate are fairly similar—they just have more actual cocoa in them.

Then came a Swiss chocolatier named Barry Callebaut. He has come up with a formula for an entirely new treat called “ruby chocolate.” The chocolate variety has a pinkish red hue. Although it does have some sweetness, it also has a bit of a sourness that you don’t usually expect from chocolate. It has already seen widespread testing in Japan and South Korea and will be hitting shelves in the UK in the form of a special KitKat on April 16, 2018.^[1]

This uncommon treat is supposed to have less of the usual cocoa taste without any crazy genetic modification. It’s created with an existing type of cocoa bean that is processed before fermentation. This is a patented trade secret at this point. Perhaps if it catches on, Callebaut will start licensing his secret to the big-name players.

9 Plant-Based Burgers That Taste And Even ‘Bleed’ Like A Real Meat Patty

After adopting their new eating habits, many vegans miss the taste of many foods they were once used to—American comfort foods that most of us could not imagine doing without. Vegans try to fill this void with substitutions made from plants, but most agree that a veggie burger really does not mimic the experience of a proper burger with a real meat patty.

Enter a small group of vegan scientists who want that experience and hope to convert meat eaters to vegans by giving them a proper substitute. Several years ago, these scientists started Impossible Foods, a company in Silicon Valley, to make that perfect fake burger.

The company has been using complicated food science to mimic the taste, texture, and entire experience of eating a burger with a real meat patty. Multiple plant products go into their formula, but beet juice is the key to making it seem like the burger actually bleeds.^[2]

They say that the key to their success was something called heme, a building block of life that is found in both meat and plants and helped them imitate the taste and texture appropriately. There is already limited testing of the Impossible Burger in New York, San Francisco, and Los Angeles. You may also get lucky and find it locally because Impossible Burger is trying to get as many restaurants as possible to try out their product.

8 Grapes That Taste Just Like Cotton Candy And Are All Natural

Due to genetically modified organisms (GMOs), we now have hybrid fruits and vegetables with special flavors that you would never imagine finding in nature. Some people decry these foods because they are worried about GMOs even though scientists say they are not dangerous. However, for those who are worried about GMOs, they can breathe easy when it comes to this amazing, tasty treat.

According to the farmer who invented them, cotton candy grapes were carefully designed by crossbreeding various species of wild grapes until the desired flavor was achieved. No genetic engineering or laboratory trickery was involved.

Cotton candy grapes were conceived, cultivated, and ultimately invented by a lone farmer who had a really good idea and started working slowly but surely on his new creation. They can be found at most grocery stores today and, due to their novelty, tend to cost a little bit more than traditional grapes.^[3]

However, most people who have tried them feel that the taste is well worth the price. In blind taste tests, most people have no expectations beforehand yet identify these grapes as tasting like cotton candy.

7 Ice Cream That Is Made Right In Front Of You Using Liquid Nitrogen

A few years ago, a husband-and-wife team of engineers wowed the sharks on ABC’s Shark Tank when they used liquid nitrogen to make delicious ice cream right in front of everyone. All but one of the sharks enjoyed the delicious treats and were impressed by both the wow factor and the safety of the process.

However, the sharks were not impressed enough to offer the inventors a deal. Although they liked the idea, they felt the business wasn’t where it needed to be. The company wanted to pursue franchising, and the sharks did not agree with that business plan.

Although the sharks didn’t invest, the company founders have continued on their journey. Sub Zero Ice Cream has slowly started franchising throughout the country and wants to make this exciting new experience a global brand.^[4]

The new method wows children and adults alike. It also removes the need for a freezer, which means less of a carbon footprint and lower energy costs for the franchisee. The process involves using liquid nitrogen to quickly freeze whatever flavor ingredients you want. Then you just stir it properly as it freezes to get that desired creamy consistency.

6 Edible Water Orbs That Can Replace Plastic Bottles And Are Entirely Biodegradable

Not that long ago in relative terms, bottled water was a rare commodity that was only used by people in rural or other areas without proper access to potable water. Then, during the 1990s, bottled water started to become a huge trend. Now landfills all over the world are overflowing with plastic bottles.

Plastic takes a long time to break down. The amount of trash created from these containers is practically apocalyptic, even though many advocates have pushed for people to buy reusable water bottles.

A company called Skipping Rocks Lab has come up with a product called Ooho, which they believe can revolutionize how we drink water on the go. To reduce the amount of waste around the world, they created a stable, flavorless orb from which you can drink water. Then you can eat the orb afterward.^[5]

Made of algae, it is biodegradable if you decide to throw it away instead of eating it. The creators believe that these orbs could replace plastic water bottles entirely with the right distribution. They would also greatly decrease the garbage problem from our massive plastic consumption.

5 The Anti-Griddle Is Expensive, But It Allows For Incredible And Speedy Frozen Creations

One of the more fascinating new pieces of culinary equipment is the anti-griddle. It was originally dreamed up by Grant Achatz, a guest judge on Top Chef, who used it in his Chicago restaurant. After people started to notice his invention, he worked with Philip Preston, an expert on new culinary devices, to make the anti-griddle available for the global mass market.

This device allows you to flash-freeze or semi-freeze foods almost instantly. Unfortunately, most individuals cannot afford to buy the anti-griddle. Mainly restaurants with higher budgets can afford them. With the basic models clocking in at around $1,500 each, most people cooking at home will consider them as an overly expensive luxury.

However, for those who do want to try them out, the folks at Instructables have your back. They provide a step-by-step blueprint with pictures to build a functioning DIY version of the anti-griddle for about $15. If you are handy with tools and enjoy making things, you could be like the crazy chefs on TV for less than 20 bucks.^[6]

4 Cricket Flour Helps Ease People Into A Valuable New Food Source While Tasting Delicious

As food sources become scarcer around the world, people are becoming increasingly worried about how we are going to feed everyone. The world already struggles with hunger in many regions around the globe, and some think that climate change will make things noticeably worse within the next few decades.

There is also concern that the beef industry has a gigantic carbon footprint and may not be entirely sustainable in the future. To combat these worries, some scientists have gone to disgusting lengths. They are trying to get us to eat bugs.

Once you get past the ick factor, eating bugs is not a bad idea. They are high in protein, and there are tons of them around. They are also relatively easy to breed. Most people are grossed out by the idea, but entrepreneurs have found a way to get people started.

They have created a flour from crickets, which helps remove the disgust factor.^[7] This flour has been used in many successful products—from chips to protein bars. No one knows if it will catch on in a major way in the Western world, but it would be a great food source. As flour used for baking, it may help people to get past their initial reservations about eating bugs.

3 Once Only For Snobby Chefs, Sous Vide Is Becoming Increasingly Mainstream

In the last several years, one of the most talked-about innovations in food is the new sous vide cooking trend. This involves putting food inside plastic bags and then submerging the bags in water to slowly and consistently cook with little babysitting or work needed in between.

Many chefs and restaurants have started using the method because it allows them to do a lot of things at once without paying much attention. Sous vide also results in nearly perfect cooking every time.

Quite a few people consider this method of cooking incredibly pretentious. In fact, most home cooks are convinced that they can’t do this without a huge investment. Immersion circulators and special thermometers for the process can set you back thousands once you have a full set, but Martha Stewart has your back.

She explains how to sous vide at home on the cheap.^[8] You just need basic cooking thermometers, plastic Ziploc bags, and the proper knowledge. It may be easier and neater to use fancy equipment, but you can do the process just fine at home without it.

2 The Trend To Eat Black Ice Cream Made With Activated Charcoal Is Dangerous For Some

Recently on social media, black ice cream has become a big trend. It started as a backlash to the recent unicorn trend, especially after the debacle in which Starbucks gave several of their baristas nervous breakdowns.

The first shop to sell this creation was the Little Damage ice cream shop in Los Angeles, California. But the idea soon took off. You cannot copyright a recipe, and before long, people discovered that the ice cream was made using activated charcoal. Specialty shops everywhere started doing it.

Although it is a delicious and harmless trend for most people, some individuals should be quite cautious before they enjoy this new treat. You may have heard that grapefruit can have bad interactions with certain medicines. Well, ice cream made with activated charcoal can cause similar problems.^[9]

The reason is that activated charcoal can be a potent detoxifier. This can draw the medications out of your body, thus causing them to become ineffective. It’s not just a problem for people who are ill. The activated charcoal in black ice cream can also affect people who take vitamins or birth control pills.

1 Deboned Baby Back Rib Steaks That Aren’t A Mishmash

Al “Bubba” Baker was a former NFL player who spent 13 seasons as a defensive lineman for several teams. He ended his respectable career with the Cleveland Browns in 1990. However, like many former NFL players, he got out of sports and found himself bored and wondering what to do for a new career.

Well, Bubba really liked ribs, but his wife didn’t. They were too messy. He wanted her to be able to enjoy ribs like he did, but he didn’t want her to have to accept a Frankenstein “rib” creation like the stuff you get from McDonald’s for a limited time. So, he started working on a process—which he patented—to take the bones out of a whole rib and keep the meat intact.

He had only $154,000 in total sales when he went on Shark Tank, but the sharks were incredibly impressed by him, his product, and his patent on a food process. Ultimately, he made a deal with Daymond John, who helped him meet some important executives at the parent companies of Hardee’s and Carl’s Jr.^[10]

They made a multimillion-dollar deal to buy his boneless ribs to sell at their fast-food restaurants around the country, and his sales leaped to $16 million in three years. Baker’s simple dream to help his wife enjoy one of his favorite foods has made him a multimillionaire whose family is now set for life.

And, if the idea of a rib sandwich with a whole, authentic boneless rib sounds mouthwatering to you, just make your way over to a Carl’s Jr. or a Hardee’s restaurant, where they still feature sandwiches with the new boneless ribs on their menus.

There are a small handful of basic things we deem necessary for life. Food, water and shelter are often considered the basic three and, in a pinch, you might just get away with food and water. And even then, if you had to choose between the two, water is the one you need most.

A human can only survive three or four days, at most, with no water. In extreme conditions this number can even reduce further. But for some animals in the world, dependence on water is barely a thing at all. Just the smallest amounts can keep all kinds of creatures going.

10. Freshwater Fish Don’t Drink Because Of How Salty They Are

You’ve probably heard the expression “drinks like a fish” in reference to someone who can pack away a lot of booze. On the surface it seems to make sense. What creature could possibly drink more water than a fish? They’re immersed in it all the time, they must constantly be pulling in the liquid, right? Not exactly.

Freshwater fish don’t actually drink water at all. As counterintuitive as it sounds, it’s true. That’s not to say they don’t absorb water, which they do through their skin and across their gills through osmosis. But it would be dangerous for a freshwater fish to actually drink water in the way humans and other animals do.

Because of the salinity of a fish’s bodily fluids they can’t ingest that freshwater without potentially killing themselves. Their kidneys would have to filter it incredibly fast or the fish would risk exploding thanks to the imbalance of salt in their blood and organs. 

Instead, they use their gills to filter water to allow them to maintain the balance of salt in their body without risk to their health.

9. Mountain Gorillas Very Rarely Drink Water

Mountain gorillas are massive primates and can weigh as much as 400 pounds. Despite their bulk, the majority of the nutrients they eat comes from plants including leaves and stems, plus a small amount of roots, flowers, fruits and insects. They barely drink any water at all. 

When it comes to moisture, they get what they need from succulent plants which can be neatly 50% water, as well as morning dew that may have accumulated on the plants as well. 

Those who study gorillas and have done so for years have only noticed an increase in water drinking by the apes recently, arguably a result of climate change and increased temperatures in the natural habitat of the gorillas. Because it’s getting hotter the apes are more likely to feel the effects and risk dehydration if they aren’t supplementing their diets with actual sources of water. 

Under ideal conditions, however, a mountain gorilla may never need to find a pool to quench its thirst. 

8. Marine Mammals Get Most of Their Water From Their Prey

We already saw that fish aren’t big drinkers because they use their gills to get water through osmosis and that sounds great. But what about the mammals of the sea? Without gills, they’re just like the rest of us. They have to be drinking water, don’t they? Well, no, they found a workaround, too. 

For the bulk of mammals in the sea, in particular cetaceans like whales and pinnipeds like seals, water is absorbed through what they eat. For whales in particular, metabolizing both protein and fat from the creatures they eat can often provide all the water they need to survive. In certain circumstances, however, it’s believed these mammals could supplement their diet with sea water if they are losing too much moisture because of evaporation.

Even tiny krill, which massive blue whales feed on, are able to provide enough water in most cases to keep the marine mammals going. 

Incidentally sharks, though not mammals, are like some of their smaller cousins. That means they are saltier than the water in which they swim. As a result, they don’t drink water either and simply absorb water through osmosis as well. 

7. Koalas Can Usually Get All the Water They Need While In Treetops

Koalas are like the unofficial ambassadors of Australia and everyone seems to love the cute little guys if for no other reason than they look cuddly and small. They’re also pretty remarkably little guys who have had a few hard years thanks to awful weather conditions down under.

Normally, a koala doesn’t need to drink water often at all. As hard as it is to believe, their very limited diet of eucalyptus leaves gives them some of what they need in terms of liquid. Or it used to, anyway. In addition, it’s been observed that they just lick water that runs down the trees during rain as well. 

In recent years, soaring temperatures in Australia have driven koalas to the ground in search of new water sources. It’s more and more common to see videos and stories about koalas approaching people and seeming to beg for water from water bottles, which many people are happy to do. 

6. Frogs Absorb Water on Their Skin

Frogs spend the bulk of their lives in the water but surprisingly enough they are not big drinkers. How they do stay hydrated can be more clever than you might think, though. Not all frogs just sit in a pond absorbing water through their skin, after all.

Green tree frogs in Australia make use of something referred to as “lemonade physics.” They will go outside in the cold for a while and then return to their warm tree home. Water condenses on their skin, like those inviting little beads of moisture on a glass of cold lemonade on a hot day. They can absorb that water into their flesh and it provides the hydration they need. 

While not all frogs mimic glasses of lemonade, they are still designed for absorbing water rather than drinking it. Many frog species can sit in water and absorb it through patches of skin on their thighs and bellies that are known as drinking patches.

5. Kangaroo Rats Metabolize Water From Seeds

Most people aren’t big fans of rats due to that whole “brings of plague and death” thing they’re so often associated with. But not all rats are created equal. Take the kangaroo rat, for instance, which actually isn’t a rat at all but got stuck with the name.

You can find these creatures in the Sonoran desert and are so well adapted to desert life they literally never need to drink water in their entire lives. Their bodies are almost miraculous in the way they are able to extract water from things that humans would consider devoid of water entirely.

Kangaroo mice eat seeds which are not typically known for their juicy consistency. Despite this, the metabolism of these little animals is able to turn one gram of seed into a half gram of water. To further extend their own hydration their kidneys are able to super process urine to the point that what comes out is basically crystallized, ensuring no liquid goes to waste.

4. Thorny Devil Channel Water Out of Sand

Of all the desert dwellers who have unique adaptations for staying hydrated, few are as remarkable as the thorny devil. This intimidating looking little beast doesn’t drink water, and it doesn’t even need to absorb it through the food it eats, although they do seem to have the ability to absorb it through capillaries in their skin. The thorny devil is so good at hydrating itself where no water exists it just pulls it right out of sand and into its body.

In and among its many spikes and bumps, the thorny devil’s flesh is made up of microscopic grooves. When it’s touching sand that has even a trace of moisture, these grooves can pull the water from the sand. The water is then channeled along these little grooves into the lizard’s mouth, so its whole body is kind of like a bumpy, spiky straw. The deeper it immerses itself in slightly moist sand, the more liquid it can pull in.

Interestingly enough, the lizards couldn’t actually drink water if they wanted to. Their mouths have not adapted to licking water out of a puddle or stream and are essentially only useful for eating ants. So their method of drinking isn’t just unique and clever, it’s essential.

3. Naked Mole Rats Get Their Moisture From Roots

Naked mole rats are not known for being particularly attractive beasts though they do have a very cool name. They’re also well adapted to their environment and are tough and rugged animals to the point that scientists have noted that they almost never get cancer. But even beyond that, they almost never need to drink water.

Living underground, naked mole rats are prone to eating the parts of plants that also grow underground, chiefly roots and tubers. This is where they got their water from and the rats are smart about it. They only partially eat the roots so that the plant won’t die. That means it will continue to grow and provide a future meal for the mole rat at a later time. 

2. Sand Cats Will Drink Water But Don’t Need To

How much do you know about sand cats? These broad faced but fairly small wild cats can be found in parts of Africa and Asia living, as their name suggests, in sandy, desert climates. It stands to reason that, as a desert species, they may have adapted to environments with little water and that’s very true of these small creatures.

At a maximum weight between three and about 7.5 pounds, these animals are smaller than most house cats though they do have dense hair that makes them look a little bigger than they truly are. 

Life in the desert has allowed sand cats to adapt to weeks without a source of water. Like other predators they will simply take what they need from their prey, like adorable little vampire kittens. If water is available, they will drink it but otherwise prey animals like rodents, birds, even spiders and insects will get the job done. 

1. Gerenuk Never Need to Drink 

Gerenuks are slender, graceful animals whose name means “giraffe necked.” They’re a type of antelope found in Africa but they appear to be much smaller than most species. Their heads, in particular, are rather tiny which, combined with their large eyes and ears make them look almost cartoonish.

Like many animals of the savannah and hot climates it’s well adapted to life in a place where water is scarce. Unlike most of the animals the gerenuk has taken this adaptation to the next level. It’s possible for one of these animals to live its entire life having never tasted water. 

They eat plants and their long legs and necks allow them to reach higher into branches to get more coverage. Their populations are also dense in the driest areas that many other animals can’t survive in for lack of water, ensuring that the gerenuk has plentiful food because of the lack of competition. 

To help ensure they start hydrated they have evolved nasal passages that actually keep moisture in instead of allowing it to be lost to exhalation. Their urine is incredibly concentrate and they also live incredibly sedentary lifestyles so they’re not wasting energy or water unless they need to.

People fork over huge sums of money to live in a place with a view over the water, whether it be the ocean, a bay, a lake, a lagoon, or a fjord. There is something inherently magical about waking up to the sun glittering over the sea or watching as thick mist rolls in over a lake.

But what if you’re gazing out at the water, feeling all kinds of peace, just to see a shadowy figure staring back at you? Or you hear someone humming a long-forgotten tune while you’re strolling along the shore, and you find yourself face to face with a red-eyed mermaid ready to stick sharp claws into your flesh.

Water mythology has been around for a very long time and centers around a slew of scary characters and fabled objects. On this list are just a few of these.

Related: Top 10 Cryptids You’ve Never Heard Of

10 Burning Ship of the Northumberland Strait

If you’re not familiar with Canadian topography, Prince Edward Island, New Brunswick, and Nova Scotia aren’t places you would likely recognize. Unless you’ve read L. M. Montgomery’s acclaimed Anne of Green Gables, that is.

However, the Northumberland Strait, located between PEI, New Brunswick, and Nova Scotia, has put Canada on the paranormal map, as opposed to the literary one.

In 1900, a group of sailors from Charlottetown spotted a ship sailing toward the shore. As the ship drew near, the sailors saw her masts crawling with crew members trying to escape an inferno on the deck. The sailors sprang into action, jumping into a rowboat and oaring toward the burning ship. Just before they reached it, the ship disappeared before their eyes.

This wasn’t the first sighting of the ship. Reports have been trickling in since 1786, and the legend of the burning schooner has served as inspiration for novels, articles, and songs. It even has its own dedicated Canadian postage stamp.

A couple in Glengarry also saw the ship one evening in 1950, fully rigged and engulfed in flames, sailing down the Northumberland Strait. Unlike most urban legends, there is no backstory to this phenomenon. No sinking or tragedy that could have given rise to this eerie story. Instead, those who live in the area just try to keep an eye out for the burning ship and cross their fingers against bad luck.^[1]

9 Flathead Lake Monster

Scotland is not the only place that boasts a water-dwelling monster. Flathead Lake in Montana falls within the boundary of the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes Flathead Reservation and is the largest natural freshwater lake west of the Mississippi in the lower forty-eight states.

In 1889, the skipper of the U.S. Grant steamboat and several passengers spotted what seemed to be a huge log in the waters of Flathead Lake. As they approached the object, they realized it was a living creature. It was coming toward them and moving fast. One passenger fired at it with a rifle but missed. And so was born the legend of the Flathead Lake Monster.

Those who have encountered the monster describe it as a massive eel-shaped creature of up to forty feet (12.2 meters). Some say it looks like a giant sturgeon with a head like a bowling ball. There have been many more sightings over the years, and the monster has earned the nickname “Flessie.”

In a strange turn of events, a three-year-old boy who couldn’t swim was found soaking wet at the end of a dock at the lake in 2017. When he was asked what had happened to him, he said that he’d fallen into the lake and a monster had lifted him up and out to safety.^[2]

8 Miniwashitu

In 1921, curator Melvin Randolph Gilmore wrote about a creature named Miniwashitu. This mysterious being was allegedly seen in the Missouri River, glowing like fire and producing an unearthly sound. Soon people began believing that those who saw the beast in the daytime would become inflicted with insanity and unexplained physical pain.

The monster is said to have red hair and one eye in the middle of its forehead, with a horn protruding above it. Its backbone looks like a giant saw.

Even in modern times, Missouri locals still tell the story of the Miniwashitu. It is believed that the monster still lurks in the river and moves upstream during springtime. Sometimes it moves around in winter, breaking ice that has formed over the water.^[3]

7 Ashrays

There is more to Scotland than just unicorns and the Loch Ness Monster. Here you might just bump into what looks like an underwater ghost known as an Ashray. Ashrays cannot live on land and are only found beneath the water’s surface. They resemble the ghosts of humans, as they are entirely translucent, and the best time to look for them is, of course, in the dark of night as they are nocturnal creatures.

In English folklore exists the Asrai, which is supposed to be an aquatic fairy. Legend has it that a fisherman once captured an Asrai and put it in his boat. The Asrai pleaded with the fisherman in a language he could not understand, but the fisherman proceeded to tie wet weeds around the fairy, burning his hands in the process when he touched its skin. Eventually, the Asrai melted into a puddle of water. It is believed that these creatures perish if exposed to the sun for too long.

They are said to have green hair and a mermaid-like fishtail. They only come up to the surface once every hundred years to bathe in the moonlight.^[4]

6 Spiteful Mermaid

Most people have heard of the so-called “water babies” found in lakes and rivers in America. Urban legend says that ancient members of the Paiute Tribe would drown disabled babies in bodies of water, only for the babies to return in spirit form and cry out over the water when night falls.

Pyramid Lake in Nevada is not only one of the locations where the wail of water babies has been heard, but it is also where a brokenhearted mermaid is believed to have spoken a curse after her marriage to a Paiute Tribe member was frowned upon. She was banished from the land and, in turn, vowed revenge should any tribe members go anywhere near the lake. To this day, many Paiute members still believe that any bad luck suffered by the tribe can be attributed to the mermaid’s curse.

Perhaps the scariest part of Pyramid Lake is that it is the last remnant of the ancient Lake Lahontan, and it was also the deepest part. This means that no one really knows what lies in the sediments far below.^[5]

5 Ship of Death

In 1862, Leon Webber watched as a veil of mist enveloped the Platte River in Wyoming. He moved closer to the river’s edge and, out of curiosity, tossed a small stone at the mist. It instantly transformed into a ship covered in frost.

Webber could only stare as several sailors onboard, who were also covered in frost, closed ranks around an object lying on the deck. When they scattered, Webber saw that the object was the body of a young woman. Then with a shock, he realized he was looking at his own fiancé.

Trying to push the experience from his mind, Webber returned home a month later only to find that his fiancé had died on the very same day he’d seen the vision of her corpse.

Since then, the aptly nicknamed Ship of Death has been sighted every 25 years. Creepily, all the sightings are reported to have taken place in the middle of the day, when temperatures usually soar, which makes it somewhat more difficult to explain away the thick, rolling mist and the shadows some witnesses have seen form over the water.^[6]

4 Hafgufa

An Icelandic legend has it that a ginormous sea monster named Hafgufa once existed in the Greenland sea. The monster was said to be a massive fish whose top part resembled an island. Sightings of Hafgufa were rare, but a sailor once witnessed her belch and expel a huge amount of food which attracted thousands of fish. The fish crowded into Hafgufa’s mouth, and she swallowed them all in one go.

It is believed that Hafgufa was the mother of all sea monsters and ate anything she could catch, including ships, humans, and whales. Because she resembled an island, many sailors would mistake her nose and head, which she raised above the surface at low tide, for rocks.^[7]

3 The Octavius

In 1761, the Octavius docked in the port of London and took on cargo destined for China. The ship left London with a full crew on board, as well as the family of the captain. They made the trip safely to China, and once they took on cargo meant to be offloaded in Britain, the captain decided to sail the Northwest Passage. After entering the passage, the ship vanished without a trace.

Fast forward to 1775. The whaling ship, Herald, was sailing the waters of Greenland when her crew saw another ship a distance away. As they sailed closer to the ship, they saw that she was in bad shape. Some of the crew boarded the vessel to investigate and made a horrific discovery below deck. In the crew’s quarters, all 28 crew members of the Octavius were found in a frozen state. The captain was seated at his desk, frozen to his seat. Behind him were his wife and son, both frozen.

The Herald crew members were shocked and terrified. They grabbed the ship’s log and fled. In their haste, the book’s middle pages loosened and were lost. What remained of the writing in the logbook told the story of the ship becoming stuck in the Arctic ice near Barrow, Alaska. Fearing that the Octavius was cursed, the crew of the Herald simply let it drift off. It was never seen again and might still be floating in the open water somewhere, its unlucky passengers still onboard.^[8]

2 Lorelei

On the echoing rock, Lurlei, on the southern bank of the River Rhine, you might just spot Lorelei. German lore tells the story of a woman who had been betrayed by her lover. Her heart shattered, she drowned herself in the river and was reincarnated into a siren. The murmuring echo that emanates from Lurlei is said to be Lorelei’s song, calling men onto the rocks and their subsequent doom.

Heinrich Heine wrote a poem called “Die Lorelei” in 1824, which has since been set to music by several composers.

“The comb she holds is golden,
She sings a song as well
Whose melody binds an enthralling
And overpowering spell.
In his little boat, the boatman
Is seized with a savage woe,
He’d rather look up at the mountain
Than down at the rocks below…”^[9]

1 The Celtic Merrow

Ireland is steeped in folklore. Here you will hear tales of wailing banshees, mischievous leprechauns, and creepy fairies. It is also the place you’ll find the Celtic merrow who used to live in the Celtic seas according to legend.

A merrow is a mermaid with a magical cap that enables her to travel between the sea and the shore. When the merrow combed her soft hair, sailors and fishermen were entranced. The comb used was of the magical variety and a symbol of feminine power.

The merrow is said to be either male or female, with the difference being that the women were exceptionally beautiful, but the men were hideously ugly. The merrow men became bitter when the women looked toward human men for mates. They resorted to capturing sailors and keeping them imprisoned underwater in revenge.

Should a male human wish to keep one of the merrow women with him on land, he would need to take away her magical cap before she could enchant him by singing. Possessing her cap meant the man would eventually be able to persuade her to marry him as well. However, the couple’s wedded bliss would be short-lived, as the merrow woman would search until she found her cap and then drag her husband underneath the waves with her.^[10]

Jumping into a lake or ocean seems like a nice way to cool off on a hot day. Or maybe playing in the waves is more your style by taking a long, relaxing swim. Just don’t think about what’s underneath the surface of the water. And definitely don’t forget your life jacket.

Even strong swimmers can fatigue, and suddenly, the open water becomes a danger zone. If you overexert yourself, you could pass out or not have enough strength to get to safety. And more than likely, a rescue is too far out to save you.

Also, when we step into open water, we don’t always think about whose home we’re entering. Wild animals. Oceans, lakes, and rivers are home to many creatures that have been known to attack humans. Open water swimming is more dangerous than people think, and here are 10 accidents that will make you think twice about diving into open water this summer.

10 Amy Martich Drowns During the NYC Triathlon

Amy Martich grew up swimming on her high school swim team in Crystal Lake, Illinois. Lifeguarding was always her summer job growing up. In 2011, at age 40, she drowned while competing in the New York City Triathlon. Another swimmer noticed her body unresponsive, face down in the water, and quickly called for help. She was pronounced dead later that day in the local emergency room.

This was very sudden and traumatic to her family. She was such a strong swimmer; her family had never worried about her swimming in open water. This goes to show that open water swimming can be dangerous even for the best swimmers. It’s no joke.

9 Kevin Frewen Drowns while Abalone Diving

On May 14, 2016, 57-year-old Kevin Frewen stayed under the water too long while abalone diving off the northern coast of California. He was among several friends, but while many of them swam back to their boat to warm up and take a break, stubborn Frewen went off to try to catch abalone.

Frewen went out alone, which is a big no-no in the ocean. Taking a buddy is much safer. His friends found him unresponsive soon after. He probably stayed under the water too long, triggering a heart attack under the water.

Frewen was very fit. He ran every day, coached high school wrestling, and worked a manual labor job. He was very tough, but his stubborn toughness is likely what cost him his life. It’s important to remember not to try to just “tough it out” in open water. Come up or take a break if you think you’re getting fatigued. There’s no shame in being safe rather than sorry.

8 Professional WWE Wrestler Shad Gaspard Drowns at the Beach

In 2020, WWE professional wrestler Shad Gaspard’s body was found at Venice Beach in Los Angeles, California. He had been swimming with his 10-year-old son, Aryeh, when he got caught in a rip current. Lifeguards rescued his son, but Gaspard wasn’t able to be rescued in time.

It’s crazy to think that a day at the beach could end like this. Especially when we think about how he was famous. We often think that famous people are invincible, but they’re not. They are human, just like us, and this could happen to anyone. He was just playing in the waves with his son.

7 Dylan Ramsay’s Shocking Drowning

In 2011, 13-year-old Dylan Ramsay decided to go swimming in Hilltop Quarry to cool off on a hot summer day. He was found and pronounced dead at the scene. His mother has shared that he was a strong swimmer and very athletic. She has become an advocate for teaching people how dangerous open water swimming can be. Ramsay likely suffered from cold water shock, which many people don’t know anything about.

Cold water shock can cause your heart rate to increase and cause heart attacks.

His mother continues to tell Ramsay’s story to warn people about the dangers of open water swimming.

6 The “Jersey Shore Attacks”

In 1916, 28-year-old Charles Vansant was the first of the “Jersey Shore Attacks” that took place that summer. He was out swimming at Beach Haven when a shark attacked him. He was swimming with a dog that had been on the beach, so when people heard him screaming, they thought he was yelling at the dog. In actuality, he was being attacked by a shark. His leg was bitten, causing him to die of blood loss later that day.

Three other people were attacked on the Jersey Shore between June 1 and 12 in 1916, resulting in four deaths and one injury. Sightings of great white sharks and bull sharks were reported that week, so these are likely the species responsible for these attacks.

The ocean has dangerous animals that should cause you to think twice before taking a casual swim. Anything can happen.

5 Irene Chan’s Sea Lion Attack

In 2018, Irene Chan was attacked by a sea lion while swimming at Aquatic Park in San Francisco. She had been a frequent open water swimmer in the area for thirty years. In 2018 though, she was out swimming when a sea lion started swimming directly beneath her and then bit her knee.

She survived the attack but is very lucky. Had the sea lion nicked a tendon or artery, this could have been a very different story. Though cute and looking seemingly harmless, wild animals can be dangerous. They are called wild for a reason.

4 U.S. National Team Member, Fran Crippen, Drowns During a Race

In 2010, 26-year-old U.S. National Swimming Team member Fran Crippen was competing in an open water race in the United Arab Emirates. He had told his coach earlier in the day that he wasn’t feeling very well yet decided to compete anyway.

All the other swimmers made it in, but Crippen still hadn’t been seen. Some of the other swimmers went back to look for him. They found his body near the last buoy. He was unconscious. It is likely that he over-exerted himself and then drowned. The water was reportedly in the 26.7°C (80°F) range, so many swimmers felt heat exhaustion after the race. He has pronounced dead at the hospital soon after.

This shows us how dangerous open water swimming can be even for professional swimmers. Had Crippen been in a pool, he would have been rescued, but because he was in open water, no one was around him, resulting in his tragic death.

3 Santhosh Heddese Drowns at Kipu Falls in Hawaii

In June 2011, 35-year-old Santhosh Heddesse from Irvine, California, was vacationing in Hawaii. He decided to visit a popular tourist stop, the Kipu Falls Swimming Hole. This is a well-known spot to jump in and cool off on the island of Kauai. Heddesse jumped in and got sucked back into the water by a powerful current and could not make it back to land. He drowned and was found at the bottom of the pool an hour later.

This spot had five deaths in the five years leading up to Heddesse’s death. This has raised the question if there is a whirlpool current in this swimming hole. Perhaps this is not a great place for tourists to visit for a swim while on the island.

2 George Wendt’s Shocking Death

George Wendt, a 73-year-old high school teacher, drowned on September 11, 2021, during the 30th Annual Big Shoulders Open Water Classic. Around the 800 block of the race, Wendt was found unresponsive. He was then taken to the local hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

Wendt was a lifelong swimmer, so this was a huge shock to everyone who knew him. He was the president of the Chicago Masters Swim Club and had competed in the 2018 U.S. Masters Swimming Spring National Championships. He was also in his high school’s Hall of Fame for swimming.

His death was ruled an accidental drowning. This should be a lesson to all of us of just how dangerous open water swimming can be, even for strong swimmers. It shouldn’t be so casual.

1 Bethany Hamilton’s Famous Shark Attack

Perhaps one of the most well-known animal attacks is Bethany Hamilton’s. Multiple films and documentaries have been made about Hamilton. On Halloween of 2003, 13-year-old Hamilton was surfing with her friend at Tunnels Beach, Kauai. While taking a break, she was lying on her surfboard when a tiger shark attacked her, biting off her left arm. She lost 60% of her blood and almost died. Luckily, she was rushed to the hospital fast enough and survived the attack.

Hamilton was a nationally ranked surfer and very comfortable in the water. She had been surfing at this beach many times before. Hamilton’s spunk and tenacious attitude did not stop her from returning to the water. She still surfs, but now with her children and husband.

While Hamilton’s type of attack is very rare, it does happen. The ocean is a dangerous place, so you’d better stay alert and be careful as you adventure in the deep blue this summer.