Blobfish Won The “World’s Ugliest Animal” Contest The following 11 facts about blobfish will get you caught up to speed on this unique creature. 11 Facts About Blobfish You Probably Don’t Knowĭon’t worry if you’re not up on the ins and outs of these funny-looking fish. Despite not being well known by most, the blobfish has become a pop culture phenomenon and wiggled its blobby-self into the hearts of many. These unusual-looking fish call the deep sea their home, and belong to the Psychrolutes genus, which consists of 11 recognized species, according to FishBase. On that last point, the Australian Museum’s fish manager Mark McGrouther told Smithsonian last year, “I’d guess they lock in a clinging, rather conjugal embrace.Maybe it’s because they are considered one of the world’s ugliest animals, but most people don’t know many facts about blobfish. Scientists still don’t know how long blobfish live or how they reproduce. THEY STILL REMAIN A MYSTERY.īecause blobfish live thousands of feet below sea level, there’s still a lot we’ve yet to learn about these JELLO-like members of the animal kingdom. According to the cafe's website, the space will feature a pressurized tank containing three live blobfish named Barry, Lorcan, and Lady Swift. There’s even a blobfish cafe set to open in London in summer 2017. It’s inspired songs, poems, plush dolls, and t-shirts. Rather than recoiling from this animal in disgust, the world (or at least the internet) has come to embrace the blobfish. According to the Ugly Animal Preservation Society, the blobfish gives a voice to the “mingers who always get forgotten.” 6. It bested the proboscis monkey, the aquatic scrotum frog, and pubic lice for the top honor. In September 2013, over 3000 online votes were cast for the “World’s Ugliest Animal,” with the blobfish racking up 795 of them. When the Ugly Animal Preservation Society was in need of a new mascot, they decided to let the people select one for them. THEY WERE VOTED THE “WORLD’S UGLIEST ANIMAL.” Some of the food it catches includes crabs, mollusks, and sea urchins. This is an effective hunting method for a creature with barely any muscle. It spends most of its time chilling above the seafloor, only moving to open its mouth when something edible approaches. There isn’t much food to come by at the bottom of the ocean, so the blobfish has evolved to conserve its energy. What it does mean is that the same skin that provides them with natural buoyancy underwater relaxes into a flabby mess without pressure. This means that when blobfish are taken out of the ocean, they don’t need to worry about rapidly expanding swim bladders pushing their guts out through their mouths. Such an organ would burst under the pressures of the deep ocean, so instead blobfish rely on their gelatinous flesh to keep them barely floating above the seafloor. These internal air sacs allow fish to maneuver through the water without sinking. To stay buoyant, most fish have something called a swim bladder. Blobfish don’t have much bone or muscle, instead allowing the extreme pressure of the deep sea to provide their bodies structural support. At those depths, inhabitants experience up to 120 times the pressure they would on dry land. Blobfish are typically found 2000 to 4000 feet beneath the ocean’s surface. But at the bottom of the ocean-where the fish is actually meant to be-it’s much easier on the eyes. Most people familiar with the blobfish have only seen images of the sad, flaccid monstrosity out of water. Rachel Caauwe via Wikimedia Commons // CC BY-SA 3.0
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