Blobfish or Psychrolutes marcidus is a deep-sea fish that has
become a meme because of its super ugly appearance. The fish is commonly known
to have a face that resembles a grumpy big-nosed bald fat old man with pink
and oily skin. Blobfish was named the ugliest animal in the world back in 2013
by the Ugly Animal Preservation Society.
However, a living Blobfish is actually not that ugly. The popular meme which
circulates on the internet is based on a picture of a dead Blobfish specimen.
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When it is alive, Blobfish looks like any other fish. It has a big head with a
big mouth and a wide pectoral fin. The fish is not wide or droopy, and it has
no nose. Its head also appears to be covered some sort of in thorns, not
smooth like in the memes.
A living Blobfish definitely still does not look pretty. However, it is closer
to our imagination when it comes to how a deep-sea fish should look like.
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Why does a dead Blobfish look blobby?
caused by decomposition. A dead Blobfish becomes deformed due to difference
in pressure. >
Blobfish are normally found below the waves off the coasts of Australia and
Tasmania. According to Smithsonian Mag, the fish lives between 600 and 1,200
meters beneath the ocean surface.
A human without special deep-sea diving equipment or a submarine will not be
able to survive down there due to extreme pressure. Your body will be crushed
if you swim too deep.
On the surface of the sea, we are being "pressed down" by the air all around
us with a force of 14.7 psi. That's about 14.7 pound-force per square inch in
freedom unit. This pressure is also measured as one atmosphere (1 atm).
One atmosphere is also the pressure caused by the weight of a 10 m water
column. Thus, a fish swimming at 10.3 m underwater experiences a pressure of
about 2 atmospheres (1 atm of air plus 1 atm of water).
Blobfish, which lives up to 1,200 meters deep, would experience an extreme
pressure of approximately 121 atm or 121 times higher than it is at the
surface. In other words, Blobfish's appearance looks normal when it is
subjected to high pressure.
suddenly decrease, and the Blobfish would only be pressed by 1 atm, and thus
the body expands. >
This fish has a special body that can withstand the crushing pressure of the
deep sea. Blobfish don’t really have a skeleton and muscle. The body is made
of gelatinous jelly-like flesh. The only way to survive under the extreme
pressure of the deep sea is to have water itself as your structural support.
You can think of Blobfish as a squished sponge. Your hand acts as the water,
which applies pressure to the sponge and gives the sponge a slimmer body. When
you let go, the sponge will expand, and thus you get the fat ugly Blobfish.
suits. In space, the atmospheric pressure is zero. Your body which looks
normal under 1 atmosphere, will bloat just like the Blobfish if you go to
outer space without a pressured suit. >
Is Blobfish edible?
Apparently, Blobfish is edible and tasty. At first, experts speculated
that Blobfish may not be edible because it has no muscle, as you would be
eating mostly a big blob of gelatin. However,
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> as reported by Daily Mail Australia > on September 25th, 2019, Alex Stollznow, 33, who works at the Sydney
Fish Markets, tried eating the ugly-looking creature.
'As far as I know, I'm the only person in existence to try it,' Mr. Stollznow
told Daily Mail Australia.
According to Mr. Stollznow, who fillet and blowtorch the Blobfish, the fish
tastes rich and sweet. It tasted like butter-poached lobster tail, and the
flesh was particularly nice. He also said that he had to try little bits at a
time in case it was poisonous.
For fun trivia, a Blobfish made a brief appearance in the popular Japanese
manga, One Piece, chapter 654. The main character, Luffy, refers to the fish
as an "old man," and he would like to eat Blobfish with mayonnaise.