Awesome Animal Fact - Not-So-Ugly Blobfish

Did you know the blobfish is not really as ugly as the photos you've seen online? The blobfish, also known as the blob sculpin or the fathead, is a deep-sea bottom feeder found in waters around New Zealand and Australia. The species wasn't discovered until 1983.

Okay, let's dispel the big myth about the blobfish... that it looks like a blob with a huge nose. You may have seen viral photos like the one below:

Yes, that really is a blobfish. But... that isn't what they look like when they are alive. Here's the real story: Blobfish live in really deep water, between 600 and 1,200 meters deep, where the pressure is at least 100 times greater than what you are now experiencing on the surface. When a blobfish is caught in a net and brought to the surface, the decompression causes its tissues to expand (killing it, obviously), and this distorts is features, particularly expanding its nose into a blob. Basically, it becomes a blob of goo, like a jellyfish washed up on a beach. Think of it this way... if I were caught and pushed down to 1,200 meters in the ocean, the pressure would make me look downright squishy and ugly too!

Now, here is what a live blobfish actually looks like:

Photo Credits:
- Dead blobfish - Shahradraki, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
- Live blobfish - NOAA/MBARI, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons