📸 PhotoPhoto: Alan Riverstone McCulloch (1885-1925) · Public domain · Wikimedia Commons Source
Smooth-head blobfish
Psychrolutes marcidus (Smooth-head blobfish · ホテイカジカ)
Not Evaluated (NE) on the IUCN Red List yet.
💡 Everyday Comparisons for Size, Mass & Speed
- 💡 Its maximum total length of 30 cm is almost the same as the long side of an A4 sheet of paper (29.7 cm) (Comparison).
- 💡 A depth of 600–1,200 m is one to two times the height of Lotte World Tower (about 555 m) (Comparison).
- 💡 Endemic to waters off Australia, it is occasionally brought up as bycatch in commercial trawl fisheries (Fishes of Australia).
Reference standards: coach bus ~12 m, mid-size car ~4.9 m, compact car ~1 t, basketball hoop 3.05 m, credit card 8.56 cm.
📖 1. Overview
The smooth-head blobfish is a fish living only on the deep continental slope bottom off southeastern to southern Australia and Tasmania. It is occasionally brought up as bycatch in commercial trawl fisheries.
🦴 2. Anatomy & Morphology
The body is very broad and flattened anteriorly, tapering and becoming laterally compressed toward the tail. Scaleless, loose, flabby skin covers the head, body, and fins, nearly obscuring the underlying features.
🔍 3. Ecology & Behavior
It is a temperate deep-sea fish living on the continental slope bottom at depths of 600–1,200 m. Its diet and reproduction are not recorded in FishBase or Fishes of Australia.
🇰🇷 4. Connection to Korea
No direct record connecting this species to Korea has been found.
📚 Sources & References
- • IUCN Red List: not evaluated (NE) — cross-checked with the Wikidata conservation-status entry
- • catalogueoflife.org — 4PR5R
- • wikidata.org — Q82288
- • commons.wikimedia.org — File:Psychrolutes marcidus.jpg
- • fishbase.se — Psychrolutes-marcidus.html
- • fishesofaustralia.net.au — 4638
- • Silhouette: PhyloPic — author not recorded · CC0 1.0
Recorded dimensions are widely cited representative estimates from public literature and may vary by study or specimen.