The team worked 24 hours a day (split into two shifts) to catalogue the treasure trove of flora and fauna hauled up from the deep during research trawls. It has been 20 years since the iconic image was snapped onboard Niwa’s research vessel, Tangaroa, during a joint Australia-New Zealand expedition to the abyssal plains and seamounts off the northwest tip of the North Island. Unofficial blobfish merch (Photo: Redbubble) But what you may not realise is that this viral fish was a New Zealander, hauled up from the depths of the Norfolk Ridge, north-west of mainland Aotearoa. In 2019, budding fashionista North West stepped out wearing blobfish slippers. Since then, its saggy pink form and relatable resting grumpy face has inspired soft toys, comics and songs. The blobfish first began gracing our computer screens in the early 2010s, as a vintage image macro meme (“Go Home Evolution, You’re Drunk”). With its slimy pink skin, bulbous nose and downturned mouth, Mr Blobby is one of the world’s most famous fish.
This is the story of how ‘Mr Blobby’ became a deep-sea icon. In 2003, a crew member on a New Zealand research vessel snapped a photo of a funny-looking fish.
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