Psychrolutes marcidus, the smooth-head blobfish,[1] also known simply as blobfish,[1] is a deep-sea fish of the family Psychrolutidae. It inhabits the deep waters off the coasts of mainland Australia and Tasmania, as well as the waters of New Zealand.[2]
| Psychrolutes marcidus | |
|---|---|
| |
| Drawing of blobfish by Allan Riverstone McCulloch | |
Scientific classification 
| |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Actinopterygii |
| Order: | Scorpaeniformes |
| Family: | Psychrolutidae |
| Genus: | Psychrolutes |
| Species: | P. marcidus
|
| Binomial name | |
| Psychrolutes marcidus (McCulloch, 1926)
| |
| Synonyms | |
|
Neophrynichthys marcidus McCulloch, 1926 | |
Blobfish are typically shorter than 30 cm (12 in). They live at depths between 600 and 1,200 m (2,000 and 3,900 ft), where the pressure is 60 to 120 times greater than that at sea level, which would likely make gas bladders inefficient for maintaining buoyancy.[2] 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, 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.[3]
Gallery
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Artist's representation of two blobfish in situ
References
- ^ a b "Psychrolutes marcidus – Names". Atlas of Living Australia. Retrieved 2019-03-28.
- ^ a b Froese, Rainer; Pauly, Daniel (eds.). "Psychrolutes marcidus". FishBase. February 2010 version.
- ^ Hearst, Michael (2012). Unusual Creatures: A Mostly Accurate Account of Some of Earth's Strangest Animals. Chronicle Books. pp. 24–25. ISBN 978-1-4521-0467-6.