Blob Fish

The Blob fish is a type of fish found off the coast of Australia and Tasmania but don’t expect to see one on your holidays as they are extremely rare to come by. The reason the Blob fish is so rare is that they live very deep down in the sea, literally just off of the sea bed. The Blob fish are found at a depth of around 800 meters which would make life impossible for most fish as at that depth the pressure is roughly eighty times more than at sea level. The reason that the Blob fish can survive at such a depth is also what gives it such a unique look (some would say ugly), foregoing a gas bladder (found in most fish to keep them buoyant) the Blob fish is almost entirely comprised of gelatinous substance, this keeps the Blob fish from sinking as the density of the goo is less than that of then sea where they are found.

Blob fish out of water
Blob fish out of water
Blob fish out of water

As the Blob fish is comprised of a gelatinous substance they actually have no muscles at all and they just float in the same spot most of the time waiting for their next meal. Scientific research has explained that the main diet of the Blob fish is that of sea urchins and mollusks. The Blob fish will literally float in place waiting for a meal to come by with little or no effort exerted in hunting prey, this leads to  in-frequent meals which works fine for the Blob fish as sustenance isn’t needed in a large level as the Blob fish devotes almost of its time to floating stationary, its because of this behavior that the Blob fish has been branded ‘lazy’.

The female Blob fish lays thousands of eggs at once and unlike a lot of fish the Blob fish will actually stay with her eggs, floating above as usual of in some cases literally sitting on the eggs. The Blob fish nesting habits are interesting as its not uncommon to find groups of Blob fish nesting together with one females eggs sometimes right next to another females. Its not known whether this behavior is strategic of whether it is just a result of their ‘lazy’ nature.

Blob fish underwater
Blob fish underwater
Blob fish underwater

When under water the Blob fish has an comical, almost human looking face however if taken out of water the Blob fish will die after a short while and is gelatinous body will dry out and shrivel no longer resembling the typical way people think of Blob fish. Currently the survivability of Blob fish is being investigated as it is becoming to common an occurrence of fishermen catching Blob fish by mistake and of course severely lessening their chances of survival.

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