The humble blobfish, once dubbed the world’s ‘ugliest’ has taken the crown for New Zealand’s ‘Fish of the Year’.
The lovable – albeit, hideous – blobfish was named Fish of the Year by the Mountain to Sea Conservation Trust, which helps to raise awareness about New Zealand’s marine life.
The fish species became a viral sensation in 2013 when a photo of the normally deep-sea-dwelling creature was shared online.
The blobfish look relatively normal when they’re at their natural habitat depth of around 2,000 to 4,000 feet, lurking among the seabed.
But when pulled up to the surface, its body deforms into a massive blob due to the pressure change.
Kim Jones, co-director of the Mountains to Sea Conservation Trust said: ‘The blobfish’s unconventional beauty helped get voters over the line.’
Radio hosts Sarah Gandy and Paul Flynn said on their show: ‘The blobfish had been sitting patiently on the ocean floor, mouth open waiting for the next mollusc to come through to eat.
‘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’, and what a glorious moment it is!’
Blob fish are unique in that they don’t have a skeleton – instead, their body is soft and ‘blobby’, held together by the immense pressure of their deep-sea environment.
Spokesperson for the Mountains to Sea Conservation Trust Konrad Kurta said: ‘It sort of sits there and waits for prey to come very close and practically walk into its mouth before it eats them.’
He added that the species may be able to live up to 130 years old, and females can lay up to 100,000 eggs in a single nest.
The blobfish lives at the bottom of the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans.
They eat crabs, lobsters, molluscs and sea urchins.
In 2013, thousands voted for the inedible blobfish to become the new mascot for the Ugly Animal Preservation Society (UAPS) in partnership with the National Science + Engineering Competition.
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