Sharp fangs, black eyes, translucent skin: The world's top 10 scariest-looking animals look like they've been dragged back from the dead

From the depths of the ocean to shadowy caves and dense, dangerous jungles, nature is full of animals that can send shivers down your spine.

Here we explore some of the most menacing, from bizarre birds to spiny lizards and nightmarish fish.

• 9 terrifying real life animals straight from your nightmares: Bloodsuckers, predators and nature’s most horrifying beasts that strike fear and revulsion

With freaky adaptations and eerie appearances, these animals prove that beauty isn't everywhere in the natural world.

10 scary-looking animals

Aye-aye

The aye-aye (Daubentonia madagascariensi), a lemur from Madagascar, looks like something from a nightmare, with its wide, glowing eyes, bat-like ears and unnaturally long, skeletal middle finger. It uses this finger to tap on wood and extract insects.

• It has a creepy stare, prowls the night, taps on trees to find food – and is feared as an omen of death. Is this the weirdest primate on the planet?

Fang-tooth moray

The fang-tooth moray (Enchelycore anatina) is a deep-sea predator that looks truly menacing with its large, needle-sharp teeth that jut out even when its mouth is closed. Its lurking presence makes it a nightmare of the ocean depths.

• What the deep-sea robots saw when they went to the darkest depths of our oceans
• Weirdest sea creatures - meet 15 strange ocean animals, including one that looks a bit like a toast rack

Potoo

The potoo, with its bark-like plumage, enormous eyes and gaping mouth has a nightmarish look about it. It is built for nocturnal hunting, while by day it blends eerily into tree branches. Its eyes are nearly black.

• Scariest-looking birds on the planet
• Weirdest birds on the planet: meet the strangest wonders of the avian world – including one that asks humans for help and another that smells like a cow

Vampire bat

The vampire bat (Desmodus rotundus) is small but fearsome, with sharp fangs designed to pierce skin so it can feed on blood. Its glowing eyes, leathery wings and stealthy nocturnal habits give it an eerie reputation.

• It vomits up blood and urinates while feeding so it doesn’t explode – meet this bloodthirsty beast
• 6 amazing blood-sucking animals that aren't insects
• 6 grotesque and weird vampire animals

Goliath birdeater

The Goliath birdeater (Theraphosa blondi) is the world’s largest spider, with a leg span up to 30 cm (12 in). Its hairy, robust form, and fangs capable of piercing small prey, give it a looming presence.

• It has huge fangs, is the size of a dinner plate, and liquidises its prey – meet the biggest spider on Earth
• Scariest spiders on the planet
• 10 biggest spiders in the world: Discover gigantic, terrifying arachnids as big as dinner plates

Star-nosed mole

The star-nosed mole (Condylura cristata) looks pretty unsettling with its freaky nose that functions like a super-sensitive hand with 22 tiny 'fingers'. It's packed with over 25,000 sensory receptors, which helps the mole identify objects seven times faster than a human blink.

• 6 extraordinarily weird animal noses: from tentacles to tubular snouts, here are nature’s most ingenious nasal designs
• Star-nosed mole: how its freaky nose is the most sensitive in the animal kingdom
• A freakish mole with a star-shaped nose, the world's most poisonous rat and a rainbow-coloured squirrel –meet the weirdest rodents in the world

Japanese spider crab

The Japanese spider crab (Macrocheira kaempferi) is an enormous size with legs spanning up to 3.7m (12ft). Its spindly, jointed limbs resemble a giant, crawling skeleton that looms on the ocean floor.

• What's the biggest crab in the world?

Thorny devil

Despite its small size, the thorny devil (Moloch horridus) looks terrifying, with is body covered in sharp, spiky protrusions. Its slow, deliberate movements give it as other-worldly edge.

• 9 weirdest reptiles in the world, from lizards that run on water to a devil with two heads

Sarcastic fringehead

The gaping jaws of the sarcastic fringehead (Neoclinus blanchardi) reveal sharp teeth. They are lurking ambush predators, jumping out from shelters to attack passing prey.

Olm

The translucent skin of this pale, blind, cave-dwelling salamander reveals its veins and organs. The olm's (Proteus anguinus) ghostly appearance, combined with slow movement in dark underwater caves gives it a creepy, haunting presence.

• Meet the mysterious olm – a weird and extremely rare cave-dwelling predator nicknamed the 'human fish'
• An animal that can give birth through its back and a creature that can project its ribs through its skin to launch poison: 7 weirdest amphibians on the planet

Main image: star-nosed mole. Credit: Getty Images