World's Strangest Fish To Become Extinct

One of the most amazing and probably the ugliest fish in the world, the blobfish, is on the brink of extinction. This weird creature does not look like fish at all. It has no scale and no clear-cut fins. It does have something that looks like a face with eyes placed wide apart, a large nose and a very sad expression.

Photo: World's Strangest Fish To Become Extinct

The fish does have the reason to be upset: scientists say that the fish stands on the brink of extinction.

The fish inhabits deep waters off the coasts of Australia and Tasmania. It normally lives at a depth of 800 meters. The fish lives at the same depths with crabs and lobsters – the edible crustaceans that trawler fishermen catch.

"Blobfish are very vulnerable to being dragged up in these nets and from what we know this fish is only restricted to these waters. The Australian and New Zealand deep trawling fishing fleets are some of the most active in the world so if you are a blobfish then it is not a good place to be. A very large amount of the deep sea is under threat from bottom trawling which is one of the most destructive forms of fishing," Marine expert Professor Callum Roberts said.

Blobfish are found at depths where the pressure is several dozens of times higher than at sea level, which would likely make gas bladders inefficient. To remain buoyant, the flesh of the blobfish is primarily a gelatinous mass with a density slightly less than water; this allows the fish to float above the sea floor without expending energy on swimming. The relative lack of muscle is not a disadvantage as it primarily swallows edible matter that floats by in front of it.