The grumpy-looking, gelatinous blobfish has been officially named the world's ugliest animal and becomes the mascot of the Ugly Animal Preservation Society.
Measuring up to a foot in length, the blobfish lives between 600 and 1,200 meters below the ocean surface off the coasts of Australia and Tasmania.
It tops a list that includes the huge-nosed proboscis monkey, the similarly afflicted pig-nosed turtle, a scrotum frog and pubic lice.
According to BBC News, the society began as a science-themed comedy night and devised its mascot campaign to draw attention to "aesthetically challenged" threatened species.
The winner was announced at the British Science Festival in Newcastle.
Biologist and TV presenter Simon Watt, president of the Ugly Animal Preservation Society, said he hoped the campaign would draw attention to the threats facing these weird and wonderful creatures.
"There are too many people trying to save cute animals," physicist Brain Cox said in support of the campaign. "They get all the press, and all the attention. Ugly animals are more deserving than cute animals."
Marine expert Professor Callum Roberts said that people have been overfishing areas up to about 200m deep and now have moved off those continental shelves and into the deep sea in areas a couple of thousand metres deep. Therefore, the fish are at risk of becoming endangered due to overfishing, according to the Telegraph.
