Psychrolutes marcidus, also known as the blobfish, or most commonly known to the public as a very disgusting slimy sea creature, deserves more love. Whether you saw them on Octonauts as a kid or learnt about their existence due to internet humour, blobfish are famous for their snot-like consistency and droopy sad, sad face. They are rated as one of the ugliest fish in the sea. However, the blobfish bullying has got to stop.
Blobfish live in the deep waters off the coasts of Australia and Tasmania, thriving in waters up to 2800m deep near the ocean floor. This means the pressure is roughly 60 times higher than regular sea level. Luckily, blobfish have adapted to the extreme pressure of their habitat. They have a very gelatinous body which means they can float around at the bottom of the sea and eat whatever floats into their mouths. Their gelatinous flesh also means that they won't be crushed by the immense water pressure, keeping a fish-like form at all times, which honestly, isn't that ugly. It's a very dapper looking fish.
Even though blobfish can technically live for over a century, they are becoming extinct. The main reason blobfish were found is that they were constantly caught as bycatch in bottom trawling nets. Because blobfish do not live typically in low-pressure areas, when they are brought up to sea level, their structure immediately collapses. Scientists first saw the blobfish, said "Wow, that looks like a blob," and called it the blobfish. This has lead to the popular belief that blobfish typically look like expired borax slime from 2016, but this is not their true form.
There are only 420 blobfish left in the sea, so there should be a great deal to protect them. An undeniable reason why they're dying is because of overfishing, which is already a huge environmental problem. The sudden rise to the surface of the ocean means the blobfish's tissue gets extremely damaged. Although many people may think blobfish aren't that necessary right now, the extinction of blobfish means that there would be a hole in the food web, meaning overpopulation of the small molluscs they consume, killing everything under them in the food web. Another prominent impact that harms the blobfish is pollution. Small pieces of plastic or litter in the sea can sink to the bottom of the ocean, meaning the poor blobfish unknowingly eat them since it's their only food source. This goes for many other deep-sea creatures, and sea creatures in general, as well.
Personally, I think the blobfish slander is too extreme. They just wanted to float and eat tiny fish with their tiny mouths, what did the blobfish ever do to you? In summary, the blobfish don't really look blobby, deserve more love than hate. A good way to support the blobfish is not to try to litter in the ocean. The plastic that you toss away could break apart and float into a poor little blobfish's mouth, and that is never a good thing. So protect the blobfish!
