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Have you ever wondered why the blobfish is called the ugliest animal in the world and made fun of for its looks?
Discover why the blobfish looks ugly out of water and how deep-sea pressure shapes its unique body.
Key Takeaways
- Blobfish look ugly only when removed from their natural deep-sea environment.
- Their soft, jelly-like bodies are an adaptation to extreme deep ocean pressure.
- Trawling nets unintentionally harm blobfish by bringing them to the surface.
- The blobfish’s natural appearance is functional and not inherently ugly.
- Misconceptions arise from seeing the blobfish outside its habitat.
Summary
- Blobfish are often called the ugliest animal due to their droopy appearance out of water.
- They have a jelly-like skeleton and almost no muscles, making them soft and fragile.
- Blobfish live deep in the ocean, between 600 to over 1,000 meters down, where pressure is 100 times stronger than at the surface.
- Their soft bodies help them float just above the seafloor, conserving energy while they eat.
- Fishermen’s trawling nets drag along the ocean floor and accidentally catch blobfish.
- When pulled to the surface, the rapid pressure drop causes their bodies to lose shape and sag.
- The distorted, droopy appearance seen in photos is due to being out of their natural high-pressure environment.
- The blobfish’s true form is much less ugly and adapted perfectly for deep-sea life.
- The video highlights the misunderstanding and unfair ridicule of the blobfish’s appearance.
Full Transcript — Download SRT & Markdown
Speaker A
When in reality, it's not supposed to look like this at all.
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But why?
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Firstly, blobfish aren't built like normal fish.
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Instead of having a tough body and hard bones, they have a jelly-like skeleton and almost no muscles.
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Making them very squishy and fragile, barely able to swim.
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But this is actually perfect.
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You see, blobfish live deep in the ocean, around 600 to over 1,000 meters down.
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Where the pressure is 100 times stronger than the surface.
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So their soft body actually helps, making them slightly less dense than water, allowing them to float above the seafloor.
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Drifting around eating animals without wasting energy and look like a completely normal fish.
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But this is where the problems begin.
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You see, fishermen use something called trawling nets, which are made to drag along the ocean floor to catch other deep-sea animals.
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But because these nets reach so far down, they often drag straight through the blobfish's environment and catch them by accident.
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Pulling them hundreds of meters out of their natural habitat, where the pressure drops rapidly.
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Without strong bones and low amounts of muscle, it'll cause their bodies to lose shape, face stretches and sags downwards, and body collapses into a droopy-looking blob.
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No longer the animal they once were.
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And this is the version of the blobfish people take pictures of.
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Making fun of an animal that was never meant to leave its home.
Topics:blobfishugliest animaldeep seaocean pressuremarine biologytrawling netsdeep-sea adaptationHoodie Guyanimal appearancemarine life
