The Blobfish (scientific name: Psychrolutes marcidus) is a deep-sea fish famous for its bizarre appearance, earning it the title of “the world’s ugliest fish.”
🐡 Blobfish have soft, jelly-like bodies — a special adaptation that allows them to stay buoyant under the extreme water pressure of the deep sea. Their skin lacks scales, making it delicate and fragile.
🐡 When brought to the surface where the pressure is far lower, their bodies lose structure and expand, turning into the “melting jelly blob” with a big nose and droopy face that most people recognize. However, in their natural deep-sea habitat, they actually look much more like a regular fish.
🐡 Blobfish grow to about 30 centimeters in length and weigh around 1–2 kilograms.
Unlike most fish that live closer to the surface, blobfish lack a swim bladder — an organ that normally helps control buoyancy — because it would burst under the immense deep-sea pressure. Instead, their gelatinous bodies, being less dense than seawater, allow them to float just above the ocean floor.
They inhabit depths between 600 and 1,200 meters, where the pressure can be over 100 times greater than at sea level. Blobfish are found mainly off the coasts of mainland Australia, Tasmania, and New Zealand.
Because they have very little muscle, blobfish move extremely slowly, conserving energy by simply drifting near the seabed. They are sit-and-wait predators, feeding on small crustaceans like crabs, shrimp, and shellfish, as well as slow-moving creatures such as sea snails and starfish. When prey drifts close enough, they simply suck it in whole, since they have no teeth.
