The Blobfish

Weird Gramma here with “WeirdFins,” all about strange stuff in the sea, and brought to you by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. My neighbor says she saw a picture of a fish called a blobfish that looks just like her Uncle Walter, and wonders if there are other kinds of blobfish that look like other people. Well, no, all blobfish look pretty much like my neighbor’s Uncle Walter. And it’s probably not a good idea to tell Uncle Walter that the blobfish belongs to a group of fishes called fatheads.

This is one of the funniest fish faces in the ocean, although you’re not likely to see a blobfish since they live in very deep water off Australia. In fact, it’s pretty rare for anyone to see blobfish, although they’re sometimes taken in nets hauled in by Australia’s deepwater fishing fleet. They really do look like a big, blobby tadpole, just a mass of pale, jelly-like flesh with puffy, loose skin, a big nose, and beady, staring eyes. But looking like a floppy water balloon is what actually helps the blobfish make a living. This guy just sort of floats above the sea floor so it doesn’t have to spend a lot of energy swimming around, sort of like when you float in the water wearing a life jacket.

Blobfish seem to grow only to about 12 inches, about as long as a comic book. No one has seen them feed, but scientists think blobfish probably just open that big mouth and let little particles drift in—this is not a critter built to chase down its food.

The blobfish, charmingly described as "hideous" by the Ugly Animal Preservation Society, has been awarded the dubious honour after repulsing people with its jelly-like appearance in the sea off the coasts of Australia and Tasmania.Milky-white in colour, the blobfish can measure up up to a foot in length and dwells between 600 and 1,200 metres below the sea's surface.But despite being attractive, not to mention completely inedible, the species has a habit of being hauled up by fishermen's trawler nets and is thought to be under serious threat.Simon Watt from the Ugly Animal Preservation Society said: "We've needed an ugly face for endangered animals for a long time."For too long the cute and fluffy animals have taken the limelight but now the blobfish will be a voice for mingers who always get forgotten."Describing the species, Mr Watt added: "Indeed this is an ugly hideous thing. It looks sad and so it should, because it's suffering from severe problems."They've got a really gelatinous flesh that is slightly more buoyant than the water. So they float around and they can be right lazy."They've got no muscle tone whatsoever because they don't have to move. They just sit there looking unhappy, grabbing any food that comes by."It's the ultimate deep sea couch potato."The blobfish topped an online poll of five ugly animals voted for by the public, beating the critically endangered giant parrot the Kakapo and a Mexican salamander that is the equivalent of a giant tadpole, called the Axolotl.Also on the list was the Titicaca water frog - found in Lake Titicaca on the border of Peru and Bolivia and dubbed the "scrotum frog" - and the proboscis monkey, from Borneo, whose enormous nose is used to make its deafening mating calls.The Ugly Animal Preservation Society was founded to champion the cause of endangered creatures with no friends, and has been backed by a number of celebrity scientists, presenters and comedians.