All about the drop fish
Not many people see a drop fish. That’s because they live in very deep water, almost to the bottom of the ocean. To put it bluntly, puffer fish are not very attractive. But the only people who really get to see them are the fishermen who accidentally catch them in their nets as they sweep the ocean floor.
The blob fish, or Blob Sculpin, originated in the ocean off the coast of Australia and Tasmania. Where they live, at about eight hundred meters, the pressure is eighty times greater than it is at sea level. That means the gas bladders of most fish won’t work for them. But this fish is really just a big blob of gel, kind of like looking at Jello(TM) but bigger and with eyes, nose and mouth. The fish averages around two feet in length.
Because it is all gel, this fish has a lower density than water. This allows you to float on the bottom of the sea without having to swim. That’s good, because a drop fish has no muscles at all. It looks like a big piece of jelly, but it has a triangular face with an expression that is like frowning or frowning. Dropfish feed by simply sitting in the water and waiting for something edible to arrive. It feeds mainly on sea urchins, molluscs, and crustaceans.
Blobfish were first described in 1978, very recently in terms of fish identification. The first breeding blobfish were discovered in 2000 at the Gorda Escarpment, off the coast of California. The fish were in an area where other species of fish and octopus were also breeding. These fish were observed at several different locations and levels by a remote-controlled vehicle and have been studied every year since they were found.
When first seen, the dropfish was supervising nests containing between 9,000 and 108,000 pink eggs. All nests had incubating fish sitting on or touching their eggs. Other nesting sites in more rugged territory appeared to be neglected, but the eggs were completely clean, which was thought to mean that the brooding fish sat on the eggs or frequently cleaned them.
The dozens of puffer fish and their nests were quite close to each other. The eggs would be on neighboring rocks, sometimes with only a meter between families. None of the fish, either with or without their eggs, showed any fear of the remote vehicle. Scientists are still trying to determine why such reproductive hotspots exist. Today, it is believed to have to do with cold seeps, which warm the water in these regions and provide a constant flow of food.