Psychrolutes marcidus

For the species also known as the "blobfish", see Psychrolutes microporos.

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
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 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]