We’ve all seen this image of a blobfish, hyperbolically labeled by the internet as the ‘Ugliest Being on the Planet’. Well, that’s just a terrible photo. What you’re really seeing is the dead body of a species of blobfish, that died from horrific barotrauma. These fish live in the deep DEEP ocean layers and are occasionally accidentally fished up to the surface. The process of rapidly ascending causes them to undergo the bends and the pressure change destroys their body. In reality he probably looked more like this and while still a face only a mother could love, is not nearly the grotesque flesh mass we’ve all seen in news articles

Smithsonian Article