Welcome to Daily Animals! A blog where I write about animals that sparked my interest!
The Misrepresented Blobfish!
Blobfish, flathead sculpin, Psychrolutes phrictus
You might've seen more photos of this guy looking like in the 2nd image. This is actually not how they look in nature - the slimy look comes from it being taken from deep water. Blobfish look like gelatinous blobs because they live in the crushing pressure of the deep sea, where their squishy bodies (few bones, less muscle, jelly-like tissue) are supported by the water, allowing them to float effortlessly.
"However, according to scientist Richard Arnott, this viral image of the blobfish is nothing more than âa vast bullying campaign.â The fish only looks like a miserable, pink lump when it has been torn from its home, and suffered devastating tissue damage due to the rapid depressurization as it was dragged to the surface. In its natural habitatâthousands of feet underwaterâthe misunderstood blobfish looks like a normal fish. Hereâs what you need to know about these deep-sea creatures."
When brought to the surface, the immense pressure difference causes their bodies to decomp press and expand, losing their structure and morphing into the droopy, "ugly" form we're familiar with, but underwater, they look more like normal, tadpole-shaped fish. Beacuse of the sudden pressure changes, they do feel pain before dying (as their bodies essentially "explode" or turn into jelly due to rapid decompression, a process called barotrauma).
In the deep sea, blobfish behave like sedentary, energy-conserving "lie-in-wait" predators, drifting just above the seafloor with their gelatinous, low-density bodies to passively gulp passing small crustaceans and organic matter, rather than actively hunting, a lifestyle suited to the crushing pressure and scarce food of their habitat. They reproduce by laying eggs in nests, often near others, and hovering over them for protection.
They grow to about 1 foot long. These tadpole-shaped fish have bulbous heads, large jaws, tapered tails, and feathery pectoral fins. Rather than scales, they have loose, flabby skin. They donât have strong bones or thick muscleâinstead, they rely on the water pressure to hold their shape together. Thatâs why blobfish collapse into a squishy mush when they are pulled up to the surface.
Since they live in the deep sea, most of the research comes from what scientists gathered from the dead specimens pulled to the surface.
Blobfish are usually found in dark, cold habitats deep at the bottom of the Atlantic, Indian, and Pacific oceans, between 1,970 and 3,940 feet deep.
Most known marine species live in the higher surface levels of the ocean (above 650 feet, where there is still light). The pressure, low temperatures, lack of oxygen and harsh conditions make surviving in those areas hard for most organisms. That's why the animals living there adapted â the giant squid, the anglerfish, lanternfish etc.
To adapt to their enviroment, these fish don't have a swim bladder - a sac filled with gas that helps control buoyancy (that for example goldfish have). In the extreme pressure, the organ would implode.
Instead, the animalâs soft body has a high water and fat content, which helps them withstand the high pressure. The thick layer of jelly-like flesh under their skin makes blobfish slightly less dense than water and allows them to bob along the seabed.
As said before, they eat by waiting for prey to come to them. They sit and wait on the seafloor for something to drift into their large mouths.
They don't have any natural predators, but the lack of other organisms at the sea floor and their feeding style still makes their life a challange!
Fun (?) fact: in 2013 it won the ugliest animal title!
Sources: Animal Geographic, AZ Animals, CNN, Australian Museum, Twiloghtzone (lanternfish image), Livescience (giant squid image), App. (angler fish image)
Footnote: People say that the blobfish is ugly/funny looking but I just feel bad :( how can you as a scientist not realise that will happen if you take it out of the water? I never see people representing how actually cool this fish is! That's why I wrote this (partially, also to feed my glutonous special interest). Is it funny only to me how they described him as gelatinous??
