They are considered to be some of the ugliest creatures in the ocean, and you’ll surely soon understand why. In this post, you’ll discover the ultimate list of facts about the blobfish.
We don’t know a thing about the blobfish
So how does the blobfish reproduce? How long do they live? How many of them are out there? Because of the harsh conditions these creatures live in, it’s virtually impossible to closely study them. What we do know is that they are frequently caught as bycatch in bottom nets. And that’s about the only way we can know they are still out there.
It the blobfish scary or just ugly?
The blobfish is one of the most peculiar creatures swimming around in the ocean. It has a body mass that is just slightly higher than water, which gives them a gelatine-type look.
This fish isn’t blessed with the best looks, and therefore, they are added to our list of scary animals in the ocean, which also includes monsters such as the viperfish, the goblin shark, and the Japanese spider crab. We might as well create a list of ugly animals, and we’re pretty sure we would include the blobfish into this one as well!
They have no muscles
Blobfish aren’t blessed with solid muscles, but then again, why would they need to have these in the first place? One of the weirdest facts about the blobfish is that their low muscle mass doesn’t allow them to do much activity at all! Their entire life consists of floating around the depths of the ocean and now and then, open their mouth to eat. Obviously, while they are basically doing nothing all day long, they try to conserve as much energy as possible as well.
This is why they transform out of the water
Living in the deep ocean means that these creatures have to deal with a lot more pressure. In fact, where they live, the pressure is between 60 and 120 times higher than on the ocean surface. When they are brought to the ocean surface, they suffer from a massive decompressing effect, which gives these unfortunate creatures their peculiar look out of the water.
It lives in the depths of the ocean
If you ever fear coming across one of these ugly fellows, then you don’t have to worry. Blobfish never come to the surface of the ocean. In fact, they live at depths of between 600 and 1,200 meters (2,000 – 3,900 ft), which isn’t a recommended depth for human beings to hang out.
Blobfish don’t have teeth
They don’t have muscles, and they don’t have a single bone in their body as well. This also means that they don’t have any teeth! Whatever they try to eat, they simply swallow it as a whole because they don’t have any teeth to chew their food.
They have another name as well
The scientific name of the blobfish species is “Psychrolutes marcidus,” but that’s not all the names given to this fish. Other popular names to define this remarkable creature are the “smooth-head blobfish,” the “Australian sculpin,” and the “toadfish.”
