Blobfish, once dubbed 'world's ugliest animal,' named fish of the year in New Zealand
This sea creature may have just experienced the "ugly duckling" glowup of the fish world.
Once dubbed the "world's ugliest animal," the blobfish – scientific name Psychrolutes marcidus – has been named New Zealand's Fish of the Year in a competition created by the conservation nonprofit Mountains to Sea.
"The blobfish had been sitting patiently on the ocean floor, mouth open, waiting for the next mollusk to come through to eat," the competition's creators wrote in a press release. "He has been bullied his whole life and we thought, ‘stuff this, it’s time for the blobfish to have his moment in the sun.'"
The campaign was created to raise awareness about the environmental impacts of destructive bottom trawling – a fishing method that involves dragging a large, weighted net along the ocean floor to catch fish and other marine life – and the species it endangers, according to the nonprofit.
Blobfish are considered deep-sea species and are often found in cold, dark habitats between 1,970 and 3,940 feet deep in the Atlantic, Indian and Pacific Oceans.
They are generally known as a "pale pink gelatinous blob with a droopy, downturned mouth and large, sagging nose," according to National Geographic.
But their unusual appearance and physiology may be designed to withstand extreme pressure in the ocean depths, scientists say.
In 2013, the blobfish was voted the world's ugliest animal species in a campaign created by the Ugly Animal Preservation Society. The nonprofit aims to raise awareness for threatened species that may not be aesthetically pleasing and therefore potentially less likely to be researched or protected.
"Uglier animals are neglected," the mission statement for the Ugly Animal Preservation Society states.
The blobfish is considered a vulnerable species due to overfishing and habitat destruction.
