Camper Question: What ARE Blob fish??
Hello hello! We got a question from Hillary's camp today (thanks Danica!) about blobfish, or the funny-looking friend below:
These deep sea fish are called Blob Sculpins, and hang out on seafloor depths from ~330ft- 9200ft (imagine putting two Seymour mountains underwater)!!! They are also known for their lack of a swim bladder, an organ most fish have to float up and down the water column. The blob sculpin doesn't have this organ because it wouldn't be very useful. The swim bladder would just implode under that much water pressure!
So if the photo above is what a blobfish looks like without all that water pressure holding its structure, what does it look like swimming in the depths of the sea? Well, it'd be something like this (video below):
If you thought the name, sculpin, sounds familiar, you might've seen this word around in the aquarium! See if you can find the grunt sculpin or buffalo sculpin lurking around in our habitats! :)
Have fun!
Resources:
More about the blob sculpin here
More about sculpins here
