The blobfish holds the official title of the “ugliest animal in the world,” a distinction granted by the Ugly Animal Preservation Society to draw attention to underappreciated species.
Its strange appearance, however, has an explanation: when it is brought to the surface, its body sags and loses its shape, turning into that pink, flabby mass with a humanoid “face” that went viral on the internet.
This happens because it is adapted to live at about 1,200 meters deep, where the pressure is more than 100 times greater than at the surface.
In that extreme environment it doesn’t need hard bones or a swim bladder (the organ that allows other fish to float), since both would collapse under such pressure. Instead, it has a soft, gelatinous body, less dense than water, which allows it to remain suspended effortlessly. 🐟🌊