The world’s ugliest animal is celebrated as New Zealand’s fish of the year

Beauty is in the eyes of Mr. Blobby’s beholders.

The blobfish, a deep-sea creature, has been described as the world’s ugliest animal because of its gelatinous, tadpole-like body. But voters in a New Zealand contest were having none of it, naming the blobfish — known affectionately as “Mr. Blobby” — New Zealand’s fish of the year this week in a competition held by an environmental nonprofit group.

Organized by the Mountains to Sea Conservation Trust, the annual event seeks to educate the New Zealand public about the wide variety of fish and the fragile state of the freshwater and marine environments they live in.

The blobfish, which lives mainly in waters off the southeastern coast of mainland Australia, the Australian island of Tasmania and New Zealand, emerged victorious with almost 1,300 out of more than 5,500 votes in this year’s nail-biter of a race. It enjoyed a late surge in support against its fellow deep-sea dweller the orange roughy, which had been in the lead but ended up losing by almost 300 votes.

The trust’s co-director, Kim Jones, described the competition as “a battle of two quirky deep sea critters, with the blobfish’s unconventional beauty helping get voters over the line.”

The appearance of blobfish, which have bulbous heads and loose, flabby skin and grow to about 12 inches in length, has a lot to do with their environment. In their natural habitat, on the seabed at depths of about 2,000 to 4,000 feet, blobfish look much like any other fish.

But when brought to the surface, where the water pressure isn’t high enough to maintain their shape, blobfish morph into the mushy creatures whose looks have been the subject of so much name-calling.

Despite its high profile as the longtime official mascot of the Ugly Animal Preservation Society, the blobfish had been trailing the orange roughy, which is endangered.

Its fortunes changed halfway through the final week of the race thanks to the support of two New Zealand radio hosts who encouraged their listeners to vote blobfish.

“We and the people of New Zealand had had enough of other fish getting all the headlines,” More FM afternoon drivetime hosts Sarah Gandy and Paul Flynn said Monday.

The blobfish “has been bullied his whole life and we thought, ‘stuff this, it’s time for the blobfish to have his moment in the sun,’ and what a glorious moment it is!” they said.

A spokesperson for the Environmental Law Initiative, which sponsored the orange roughy in the race, said it had “no bloblem” with the result, stressing that it’s “still a win” for deep-sea ecosystems and can help raise awareness about the environmental impact of destructive bottom trawling.