: ''Blobfish may also refer to the related species

Psychrolutes microporos ''Psychrolutes microporos'' is a species of deepwater marine fish in the family Psychrolutidae, commonly known as a blobfish or fathead. It is found in the abyssal zone in waters around Australia and New Zealand. Discovery A specimen of ''Psyc ...

.'' ''Psychrolutes marcidus'', the smooth-head blobfish, also known simply as blobfish, is a

deep-sea fish Deep-sea fish are fish that live in the darkness below the sunlit surface waters, that is below the epipelagic or photic zone of the sea. The lanternfish is, by far, the most common deep-sea fish. Other deep sea fishes include the flashlig ...

of the family Psychrolutidae. It inhabits the deep waters off the coasts of mainland

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

and Tasmania, as well as the waters of New Zealand. Blobfish are typically shorter than . They live at depths between , where the pressure is 60 to 120 times greater than that at sea level, which would likely make

gas bladder The swim bladder, gas bladder, fish maw, or air bladder is an internal gas-filled organ that contributes to the ability of many bony fish (but not cartilaginous fish) to control their buoyancy, and thus to stay at their current water depth w ...

s inefficient for maintaining buoyancy. Instead, the flesh of the blobfish is primarily a gelatinous mass with a density slightly less than that of water; this allows the fish to float above the sea floor without expending energy on swimming. The blobfish has a relative lack of

muscle Skeletal muscles (commonly referred to as muscles) are organs of the vertebrate muscular system and typically are attached by tendons to bones of a skeleton. The muscle cells of skeletal muscles are much longer than in the other types of muscl ...

, but this is not a disadvantage, as its main food source is edible matter that floats in front of it, such as deep-ocean crustaceans. Blobfish are often caught as

bycatch Bycatch (or by-catch), in the fishing industry, is a fish or other marine species that is caught unintentionally while fishing for specific species or sizes of wildlife. Bycatch is either the wrong species, the wrong sex, or is undersized or juve ...

in bottom trawling nets. It was first discovered around the Norfolk and Lord Howe islands, which are located between Australia and New Zealand. The discovery was made by a team of two dozen scientist during their exploration of submarine habitats. The team towed gear on the ocean floor in order to net and study different species. Among the new species the caught was the ''psychrolutes marcidus''. The popular impression of the blobfish as bulbous and gelatinous is partially an artifact of the decompression damage done to specimens when they are brought to the surface from the extreme depths in which they live. In their natural environment, blobfish appear more typical for their superclass

Osteichthyes Osteichthyes (), popularly referred to as the bony fish, is a diverse superclass of fish that have skeletons primarily composed of bone tissue. They can be contrasted with the Chondrichthyes, which have skeletons primarily composed of cartilage ...

(bony fish).

References

External links

Deep-sea creatures
in '' Te Ara: The Encyclopedia of New Zealand'' {{Taxonbar, from=Q82288 Psychrolutidae Fish described in 1926