'World's ugliest animal' wins prestigious award in New Zealand in bizarre turn of events

The blobfish has won New Zealand’s “fish of the year” award in the country’s annual competition.

Once dubbed the “world’s ugliest animal”, the blobfish (known scientifically as Psychrolutes marcidus), seems to have enjoyed a reputational glow-up after it beat the longfin eel and pygmy pipehorse to be crowned New Zealand’s fish of the year by the Mountains to Sea Conservation Trust.

Blobfish live in deep sea waters off the New Zealand and Australian coasts in highly pressurised environments they have adapted to inhabit. Scientists believe they can live up to 130 years old.

Their bodies are composed of blobby tissue that has a slightly lower density than water, which allows them to float just above the sea floor. They do not have a swim bladder, muscles or scales.

Konrad Kurta, a spokesperson from the Mountains to Sea Conservation Trust, said: “It sort of sits there and waits for prey to come very close and practically walk into its mouth before it eats them.”

The out-of-water form of a blobfish went viral in 2003, after a member of the crew on a research vessel took a picture of the animal, which is rarely seen. The sudden decompression caused its body to become misshapen and the image quickly became part of meme culture.

“Regrettably, when it is pulled up … that sudden decompression causes it to become all disfigured,” Kurta explained.

In their natural environment, the pressure of the water forces the fish into their bulbous shape.

In the contest, the blobfish won 1,286 votes, beating its next closest rival, the orange roughy, to the win by 300 votes.

It was the competition’s most successful year, with 5,583 votes cast in 2025, compared with just 1,021 in 2024.

“We are very pleased for the blobfish,” Aaron Packard, a spokesperson for Environmental Law Initiative, said. “From an ecosystem perspective, a win for blobfish is a win for orange roughy.”

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