A Blobfish Sent To Texas From The Pacific Northwest

This afternoon one of my emailers from up near the Canadian border emailed me the piece of art you see to the left and asked the question, "Remind you of anyone?"

Well, years ago I blogged about this very thing, asking the very same question, because this sea creature, known as a blobfish, does bear an uncanny resemblance to a particular Pacific Northwest land creature of dubious distinction and eventual extinction.

The ill-fated blobfish is also fated for extinction. The place blobfish call home is deep underwater off the coasts of Australia and Tasmania.

Just like the PNW land version of the blobfish, the Australian version is made up mostly of gelatinous tissue, with a mass slightly less than water. This allows the blobfish to float slightly above the sea floor without expending much energy. Basically the blobfish barely moves while it sits with its mouth open waiting for dinner to swim in.

Deep sea bottom trawling is what has the blobfish facing extinction.

I do not know if any blobfish have been successfully transferred to any of the world's aquariums. If I knew an aquarium had a blobfish, in house, I'd be prone to visiting.

Below is a collage of some of the blobfish images one sees when one Google's 'blobfish"..........