Blobfish (Psychrolutes marcidus) Ugly, And Threatened, video

by NowPublic Staff | August 11, 2010 at 06:39 am

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Add The Blobfish To Ugly Sea Creatures List, Threatened By Deep Water Commercial Fishing, Video

The Blobfish may be ugly but scientists say the lazy looking creature deserves to keep its home in the deep waters (800 m) off the coast of Australia and Tasmania.

But deep water trawlers that scrap the bottom of the Ocean for fish are scooping up Blobfish in increasing numbers according to scientists like Marine expert Professor Callum Roberts, from University of York in England.

"Blobfish are very vulnerable to being dragged up in these nets and from what we know this fish is only restricted to these waters.

"The Australian and New Zealand deep trawling fishing fleets are some of the most active in the world so if you are a blobfish then it is not a good place to be.

"A very large amount of the deep sea is under threat from bottom trawling which is one of the most destructive forms of fishing."

And because of their unique anatomy the Blobfish can only live at the bottom of the ocean and are only found in the waters off the coast of Australia and Tasmania.

Blobfish live at depths where the pressure is several dozens of times higher than at sea level, which would likely make gas bladders inefficient for maintaining buoyancy. Instead, the flesh of the blobfish is primarily a gelatinous mass with a density slightly less than water; this allows the fish to float above the sea floor without expending energy on swimming.

And so if you appreciate the unique, the extra-ordinary, some say ugly then watch Blobfish song.