The Blobfish: Only His Mother Could Love Him!
Me and my double.
Another Unique Creature Facing Extinction
Of all the subjects that I have published on HP, indeed, those that have interested me the most during my newspaper career, have been on the myriad life-forms which ride along through space on Mother Earth with us.
And of all these fellow creatures, I have leaned toward the venomous and the weird: from snakes and arachnids to parasites and microbes, to today's handsome fellow, the Blobfish.
I was reminded of the winsome blobfish while seeing myself in the mirror after my shower today, we even have the same grumpy expression and, after England being flooded for months, both live under water - his manboobs have more mass, though!
The blobfish (Psychrolutes marcidus) would see the UK floods as nothing more than a bit of rising damp as his home is up to a thousand meters under the surface in the deeps off New Zealand and Australia's southern coast.
Another similarity the blobfish and I (the Bobfish?) have is we like to flop comfortably in one place and let the world come to us: me on the sofa and the blobfish in the mud waiting for something to eat to float by. Neither of us are very fussy about that, either, the blobfish is said to eat anything it can fit into its huge mouth...I draw the line at jellied eels and road-kill.
The blobfish has a geletinous body with little muscle mass and is slightly bouyant which means he can float up and down easily without expending much energy and mild suction holds him easily to the ocean floor. Not large, he grows to around 12 inches or so, but so few people have been down in the abyss to see him where the air pressure is more than 75 atmospheres, we are not really sure of much about this curious denizen of the deeps.
Scientists are puzzled as to the reason of his "imbibers nose" a lump that invited being honked it seems to do nothing but add character - of a sort - to his curmudgeon's expression. Pictures of the blobfish mainly feature his unique face - he does look a lot more fish-like in profile.
You might think the future of the blobfish is rosy, but no, trawlers scrape the bottom at these depths now and bring him, helpless, to the surface. I can't find out if they are returned to the sea, but I imagine they wouldn't be in great shape after being squeezed in the nets and dropped onto an iron deck. There is little mercy in the breasts of those who fish for a living; the fate of untold numbers of dolphin and other unmarketable species tells you that. The Blobfish is now registered as endangered...hey ho!