One fish, two fish, red fish, ... blobfish?

John Kass of the Los Angeles Times has WAY too much time on his hands these days.  Now he's "fear-mongering" with a fish.

As if it weren't enough already having to battle the dreaded Asian carp (which I in no way mean to belittle because the carp are an invasive species currently posing a significant threat to the US Great Lakes), Kass wants us now to begin fearing the blobfish, for reasons that a photo explains better than words.

Kass goes far afield to gin up fear for this particular species.  It is only found some 9,600 miles away, in the deep waters off the coasts of Australia and Tasmania, waters so deep, in fact, that the pressure is several dozens of times higher than it is at sea level.  It is rarely even seen by humans, and appears to like it that way.

IMO, one of the few intelligent statements in Kass's column is the following:  "With all their boneless goo and slime and passive/aggressive floating, blobfish feeding behavior is remarkably similar to that of a subspecies of far more advanced creatures:  American politicians."  I can agree with that statement, insofar as it refers to the "Party of No" subspecies, whose behavior has been uniformly abhorrent.  But I would quibble with the "more advanced creatures" characterization in general.

After all, there is no evidence that the blobfish, despite Kass's alarmist proclamations and its distinctly non-glamorous appearance, has any interest in doing anything other than it generally does.   It quite peacefully floats just above the sea floor, placidly consuming mollusks, without seeking to expand its territory or wreak havoc on any other species.  In fact, some scientists believe that it is the blobfish that is in danger of extinction at the hands of man because of extensive deep-sea trawling in its only-known habitat.  

We have nothing to fear from the blobfish but fear itself.  But the blobfish has plenty to fear from us.