All Abuzz: Blobfish hooks ugliest animal voters

There’s ugly, and then there’s ugly.

Voters for the ugliest animal chose wisely, picking the gelatinous blobfish as the world’s least attractive creature.

The contest was run by the Ugly Animal Preservation Society, and the finalists were shown and voted for online.

If you haven’t seen the blobfish, it looks like the cartoon character Ziggy, if Ziggy were melting. The blobfish lives in deep waters, and its gelatinous nature makes it suitable for the high pressure at such depths.

The runners-up are no lookers, either. Taking second place is the world’s only flightless parrot, the kakapo. Among the other finalists: the big-nosed proboscis monkey and a frog that has so many skin folds that even the young ones look old.

The goal of the contest, and the society, is to get people — especially children — interested in conservation.

The group combines comedy and science. At its stand-up events, comedians champion their favorite ugly animals, and the audience votes on the ugliest creature.

The society didn’t say how many people voted, except that it was “tens, hundreds, thousands."

To read more about the Ugly Animal Preservation Society, visit www.uglyanimalsoc.com.

— Kelly Lecker?

klecker@dispatch.com?

@kellylecker