The blobfish, whose Vietnamese name is teardrop fish, the scientific name is Psychrolutes marcidus, is certainly not a strange image to many people. It appears in many caricatures all over the Internet because of its strange shape.
The strange title of the teardrop fish
The title of “world’s ugliest animal” of the teardrop fish has even been recognized by a proper organization. In 2013, it won the contest to vote for the ugliest animal on the planet organized by the Ugly Animal Preservation Society from the UK.
The appearance of the teardrop fish gives the impression that it has no bones but the body is flabby and saggy
At the time, the association was looking for a mascot that could represent all animals whose unattractive appearance made them less of a concern than others. The association explained for its award: “Pandas have received too much attention”.
The results of the contest were not too controversial because most people have to admit that the teardrop fish has a shape that makes people impressed at first sight. It has pinkish milky white skin, and its whole body is blistered and swollen. When looking directly at the face, the teardrop fish is even more bizarre. This fish always looks like it is “blistered”.
The teardrop fish has been recognized as “champion” in terms of badness, not only in the ocean world but representing the entire animal world.
The true form of the “world’s ugliest animal”
Although famous for its bad appearance, very few people know the truth about the shape of the teardrop fish. In fact, it is not as unsightly as in the images we see.
Psychrolutes marcidus is a deep-water fish that lives mainly off the coast of Australia, at a distance of 600 to 1,200 meters above sea level. Down there, the pressure is 120 times higher than above ground. Humans wouldn’t be down there without a high-powered submarine.
Because they live at a much lower depth than most fish, dropfish must also have evolved to withstand the immense pressure on the seafloor. They no longer have bones and muscle tissue, and the meat is very tender.
Henry Reich, a marine biologist, said: “Unlike most fish, these deep-dwelling fish don’t have the fish bladders inside their bodies to be able to survive under extreme pressure. great. In fact, super deepwater fish often have minimalist skeletons and jelly-like flesh.” With that, the new drop of water is not crushed by the pressure.
However, when taken out of the familiar environment of thousands of meters deep on the seabed, the whole body of the drop fish will immediately sag. Due to the sudden pressure difference, they will also be injured and sometimes internal organs rupture, eyes explode and die.
In other words, only when caught by humans, the water drop fish “bulges” and becomes ugly and unsightly like what we have seen. And actually when it is on the seabed, the environment belongs to it, the teardrop fish has a shape that is not so bad that it looks like many other common fish.
The original image when living in its own environment of the “world’s ugliest” fish
The teardrop fish is only that bad when pulled ashore by humans, but most people misunderstand that it’s ugly
When caught, the droplet fish is not only “worsed” but also suffers great damage because of the pressure difference.
Source: Smithsonianmag