Blobfish Identification Guide

Key identification features

• Loose, gelatinous, pinkish-grey flesh that looks deflated and saggy once removed from deep water pressure
• Large, bulbous nose that hangs down over a small, downturned, frown-like mouth
• Small, close-set, dark eyes and no visible scales on the skin
• Poorly ossified, cartilage-like skeleton with almost no muscle tone, giving a shapeless outline
• Body reaches roughly 30 cm (12 in), pale pink to grey-brown in life
• Rounded pectoral and dorsal fins that lack any hard spines

Common look-alikes

• Blob sculpin (Psychrolutes phrictus): also gelatinous, but grows much larger, up to 70 cm, with a broader, less pendulous snout.
• Other fathead sculpins (Psychrolutidae): share the soft, scaleless skin but have a squatter, more compact head without the drooping nose.
• Deep-sea anglerfishes: can appear bulbous and soft-bodied, but always carry a rod-like lure (illicium) that the blobfish never has.

Where you'll see one

Blobfish live on the deep continental slopes and seafloor off Australia and Tasmania, typically between about 600 and 1,200 meters, where cold temperatures and immense pressure let the low-density flesh stay buoyant without needing a swim bladder.