# What Do Blobfish Eat?

> What blobfish eat: Carnivore (passive sit-and-wait feeder), foraging style, and seasonal shifts in Deep sea, 600–1,200 m depth.

- **Species:** Blobfish (*Psychrolutes marcidus*)
- **Conservation status:** Not Evaluated
- **Diet:** Carnivore (passive sit-and-wait feeder)
- **Habitat:** Deep sea, 600–1,200 m depth
- **Canonical HTML:** https://globalanimalguide.org/animals/blobfish/what-do-blobfish-eat/
- **Parent profile:** https://globalanimalguide.org/animals/blobfish/
- **Last reviewed:** 2026-07-16

## Quick answer

The blobfish (Psychrolutes marcidus) is a deep-sea fish that lives on the sea floor off south-eastern Australia and Tasmania at depths of roughly 600 to 1,200 m. Growing to about 30 cm, it has soft, gelatinous flesh and few muscles, letting it hover just above the bottom under crushing pressure while it waits for food to drift by. It is a slow, passive feeder and is thought to live around 25 years, though its conservation status has never been formally assessed.

## Who should skip this page

Skip this if you need a captive feeding plan from a veterinarian. This page is wild diet, not a pet-care sheet.

## Why it looks like a blob

The blobfish owes its infamous appearance entirely to being hauled up from the deep. In its natural habitat, the surrounding water pressure supports its soft, gelatinous body and it looks like an ordinary, if flabby, fish. When trawled to the surface, the sudden drop in pressure causes its tissues to expand and slump into the sagging, big-nosed shape seen in photographs. The famous image of a melted, frowning blob is essentially a fish out of its depth, not how it lives.

## Help protect the Blobfish

Ocean wildlife is under mounting pressure from overfishing, bycatch and plastic pollution.

[Donate to wildlife protection](https://worldanimalrescuenetwork.org/donate/)

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Source: Global Animal Guide (https://globalanimalguide.org/animals/blobfish/what-do-blobfish-eat/). Licensed CC BY-NC 4.0 — free for non-commercial reuse with attribution.