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Article posted Thursday, January 8, 2015 10:53am

Pity the poor blobfish. It gets no respect. These 12-inch fish live at depths of 2,000-4,000 feet off the coasts of Australia and New Zealand. The fish survive at these depths because their body is a gelatinous mass having a density slightly less than water. This allows them to passively lie on the ocean floor waiting on something edible to float by. Blobfish were voted the “World’s Ugliest Animal” by the Ugly Animal Preservation Society in England. Unfortunately, this “honor” was grossly unfair because it was based on dead specimens photographed at sea level. When pulled to the surface in trawling nets, their gelatinous bodies collapse and when photographed head-on their faces look like that of grumpy – and ugly – old men. In life, they look like typical fish, although they do not move much. (thedailyfacts.net; other sources)