15 Baffling Blobfish Facts

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Last Updated on October 6, 2021 by

If you are looking for some interesting facts about blobfish, you’ve come to the right place! No, this odd animal is not some sort of internet prank, it really exists. This melty, sad, pink pile of jello is known as a blobfish, for reasons that appear to be rather obvious. These creatures are a testament to the oddities that arise out of evolutionary advancements, especially for animals in extreme environments.

Blobfish dwell in the depths of the ocean near Australia, and while it is highly unlikely that you will ever see a blobfish in person, you can still stand in awe of their unique existence. Here, you will find some blobfish facts that are sure to blow your mind and help you generate a little more curiosity towards this otherwise unsightly creature.

Top 15 Blobfish Fun Facts

Blobfish first came to light in 2003.

Despite having existed for what may be hundreds to thousands of years, blobfish were only recently discovered by humans. One of these goopy fish was accidentally pulled from the depths of the sea near Australia in a trawling rig in 2003. Since then, a few more blobfish have been caught by accident, but this species is still mostly a mystery. 

Blobfish do not have a swim bladder.

Swim bladders are gas-filled organs that are used by most fish to maintain buoyancy, but not blobfish. Due to the immense pressure of their deep-sea habitat, blobfish can not have a swim bladder because they would pop!

The ocean depth they live at has enough pressure to crush a human.

It is believed that blobfish live at oceanic depths around 2,000 to 3,900 feet. At such a point the pressure is 60 to 120 times as intense as the pressure humans experience at sea level. Unless you have a deep-sea submarine on hand, this is not an easy journey to make.

Their body density controls their buoyancy.

If blobfish don’t have a swim bladder, then how can they possibly control their buoyancy? The simple answer is body density. Blobfish have evolved to have a body density that is naturally slightly less dense than the water they live in, as a result, they can effortlessly float right above the seafloor. 

A scaleless wonder of the deep.

Your eyes do not deceive you, this fish has no sales. Its pink skin is slimy, loose, and smooth. Researchers are still unsure of exactly why the blobfish expresses this odd skin type.

There is no need for pigment when you dwell in pure darkness.

While the texture of a blobfish’s skin is still not understood, its color is. The pink hue of a blobfish is actually the result of a lack of pigment. There is no sun at the depths where blobfish dwell, so there is no need for coloration.

Who needs a full skeletal or muscular system?

The blobfish fits its name perfectly, all the way to its core. This odd fish lacks a skeletal system and most of a muscular system. Their body structure seems to melt when they are brought to the ocean’s surface because they only have a light cartilage frame supporting their body.

Blobfish are not a small deep-sea oddity.

With very few images of these fish available, it can be hard to conceptualize their size. At first glance, this may seem like a small goopy fish that can fit in the palm of your hand, but blobfish can actually grow to be over two feet in length. To make their size even more concerning, their heads make up over 40% of their entire body.

While they may not look youthful, blobfish are masters at aging gracefully.

These goopy sad-faced fish are actually expected to live to be around 130 years old. While this data may change as more research is done on the species, it is still a very impressive number. 

Less of a mighty hunter, and more of a lazy waiter.

If you don’t think that blobfish look much like hunters, then you would be correct. While their eating methods have yet to be fully observed, it is suspected that these lazy fish bob near the ocean’s floor where they wait for unlucky mollusks to float their way.

Blobfish love to have shellfish on the menu.

These squishy fish are fans of crunchy meals. They have been found with sea urchins, crabs, and other shellfish in their stomachs.

Blobfish make patient and prolific mothers.

The bottom of the ocean seems like a pretty inhospitable place to have children, but not for the blobfish. Female blobfish are believed to lay over 100,000 eggs at a time in deep-sea rocky areas. They then hang around the nest, protecting their brood until the babies are ready to take on the depth of the ocean on their own.

Scientists believe that blobfish are less of an ugly duckling and more of a fish out of water.

Blobfish may be frightening on land, but we have to remember that this species wasn’t meant to live on land. It is believed that these fish look completely different in their natural habitat, as the ocean’s pressure causes them to appear differently. 

Deep-sea trawling is the only currently known threat to blobfish.

These distant deep-sea creatures don’t engage with a lot of competition that scientists know of, and they are poorly suited for any form of conflict. This has led to the suspicion that the only known threat to blobfish is deepsea trawling, as this method of fishing can kill them and destroy rocky breeding areas.

The blobfish was crowned the world’s ugliest animal in 2013.

In 2013, an online poll named the blobfish the ugliest animal on the planet. As such, it became a mascot of the Ugly Animal Preservation Society. In a way, this odd fish has managed to bring more attention to ugly species in need, all the way from the depths of the ocean.

Final Thoughts on Blobfish

It is mind-blowing to think that the blobfish was first recorded in 2003, and since then only minor amounts of information about them have been unearthed. The inhospitable environment of these gooey fish shrouds them in mystery. With time and scientific advancements, we can hope to uncover more of the blobfish’s secrets, and until then we will just have to hope that they aren’t all accidentally scooped out of the ocean with modern mass fishing methods.

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