| Psychrolutes marcidus | |
|---|---|
 | |
| An illustration of a blobfish by Allan Riverstone McCulloch | |
Scientific classification  | |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Actinopterygii |
| Order: | Perciformes |
| Suborder: | Cottoidei |
| Family: | Psychrolutidae |
| Genus: | Psychrolutes |
| Species: | P. marcidus |
| Binomial name | |
| Psychrolutes marcidus (McCulloch, 1926) | |
| Synonyms | |
Neophrynichthys marcidusMcCulloch, 1926 | |
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]
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]
