I’m conflicted. Yes, the blobfish is ugly as sin and the off-chance that I’d see one is reason enough to stay out of the water. As reported all across the world, the Ugly Animal Preservation Society has voted the blobfish as the world’s ugliest endangered (or possibly threatened, in this case).
Kilroy Was Here
The thing is, as far as I can tell, the Ugly Animal Preservation Society is a traveling comedy show, made up of stand-up comics and associated acts. In most of the articles I’ve found, there is little mention of the fact that A) its a traveling comedy show B) they vote on a new animal every week.
At most, you’ll get a copy-and-paste of the first line two lines from the UAPS website:
The Ugly Animal Preservation Society is dedicated to raising the profile of some of Mother Nature’s more aesthetically challenged children.  The panda gets too much attention.
So, I’m conflicted. The Ugly-Animal-of-the-Week bit is a great gimmick and, undoubtedly, raises awareness of rare and hideous creatures.
But the point, it seems, is more about raising ticket sales than awareness. And, you know, I’m fine with both. What gets me is the media treating this like it is news. The reporting is relatively content and humor free, neither acknowledging the purposeful silliness of it nor actually educating us about the blobfish. (To be fair, this CNN article posted on a local FOX affiliate’s site is better than most.) It bothers me my wee nerd brain.
So, here’s some things to know about the blobfish:
1. Its of the genus Psychrolutes and makes its living in the depths of the ocean between Australia and Tasmania, eating things within gulping distance
2. It may be threatened by deepwater trolling.
3. It doesn’t have much in the way of muscles, and most of its flesh is jelly-like, allowing it to live and thrive at crushing pressures.
4. It is really frikkin ugly.