Talk about a reputation glow-up. The blobfish lives up to its name with its melted, frowny appearance. It looks like a shiny blob when seen outside of the water. The deep-sea dweller was once declared the world’s ugliest animal. Now it’s the blobfish’s turn to bask in some glory. It’s New Zealand’s fish-of-the-year champ for 2025.
The fish-of-the-year contest is run by the Mountains to Sea Conservation Trust, an organization devoted to freshwater and marine education and conservation. The blobfish beat out the orange roughy, which isn’t exactly a vision of beauty, either. Trust co-director Kim Jones described it as “a battle of two quirky deep sea critters, with the blobfish’s unconventional beauty helping get voters over the line” in a statement on March 16.
Blobfish Beats Orange Roughy
The contest is about raising awareness of fish from around New Zealand. The blobfish topped its closest competitor by about 300 votes, thanks in part to support and campaigning from radio network More FM. The total vote count for the competition hit 5,583, a sharp rise from 2024’s 1,021 votes. The Mountains to Sea Conservation Trust called it “a win for blobfish and deep sea awareness.”
The other contestants were the longfin eel, whale shark, big-bellied seahorse, great white shark, lamprey, spine-tailed devil ray, basking shark and blue cod. The blobfish pulled in 1,286 votes compared to the orange roughy at 1,009 votes. The blue cod came in last with just 260 votes.
Most of the fish in the contest are considered vulnerable. Threats include climate change, overfishing and loss of habitat. Blobfish are sometimes caught up in nets meant for orange roughy. “While the blobfish’s exact conservation status is unknown, orange roughy populations are struggling,” Jones said. “Carefully managing orange roughy and its habitat will benefit the blobfish, too.”
Blobfish Out Of Water
The blobfish’s reputation for unsightly aesthetics isn’t really fair. The droopy face and saggy body seen in most images are a result of it literally being a fish out of water. It looks more like a normal fish in its natural environment near the ocean floor. “It has soft bones, and its flesh, which is less dense than water, is jelly-like,” the Marine Science Institute at the University of Texas at Austin said. “This loose, rubbery body allows the blobfish to withstand the great pressure of its deep abode, which can be a hundred times the pressure at the surface or greater.”
Pull the blobfish from its high-pressure home and it becomes the sad-sack-looking creature of lore. That infamously unattractive appearance led to the blobfish being declared the world’s ugliest animal as the mascot of the Ugly Animal Preservation Society. The society is a comedic effort with a serious conservation bent. It brings attention to animals that aren’t adorable like pandas. Ugly animals need love and protection, too.
The blobfish deserves to be seen in a better light. It’s a very relatable fish. Its feeding method involves hanging out at the ocean floor and waiting for crustaceans and other small critters to pass by for easy snacking. Sounds like a great way to spend a lazy Sunday.
