Featured Image Credit: YouTube/austmus
By: Sarah Sharkey
The blobfish or Psychrolutes marcidus is believed by many people to be the ugliest creature to live on our planet. If you have seen one then you know that they sort of look like a fish, but it might actually be made of melted wax?
The specific blobfish that most people have seen a picture of is called “Mr. Blobby.” He was found off the coast of New Zealand in 2003. “Mr. Blobby” won world’s ugliest creature in a 2013 online poll, it was not even a close competition. He is so ugly that he is the official mascot of the Ugly Animal Preservation Society.
Although this fish is definitely ugly when we see them on the surface, they might actually look like regular fish in the deep where they live at about 2,000 to 3,000 feet under the sea. In the watery depths of their home, their bodies have adjusted to the low light and a constant crushing pressure of water from above. One of their adaptations is their soft bones and gelatinous feeling flesh, this allows them to not be crushed by the pressure around them. Another adaptation is the lack of a swim bladder, which is a necessary buoyancy control device for many fish, but is absent in this fish because it would probably be crushed at the depths it lives in.
When the blobfish come to the surface, the pressure no longer holds their body together which is why they look like the ugliest fish in the sea.
Learn more from our source.