This is Blobby -- fondly named by one of the staff here at Animals Australia. The poor darlin’ has just been crowned world's ugliest animal. Well, the whole species of blobfish have. And I’m not going to lie, they are a little frightful looking. But comedian Paul Foot says that if you could get inside the blobfish’s head, you would discover that it’s filled with kind thoughts and wise words.*

So there’s nothing frightening about Blobby. The scary thing is that the Australian blobfish is facing the threat of extinction from being caught up in fishing trawler nets. Trawling is one of the most destructive forms of commercial fishing. Sometimes more than half of the animals caught by trawlers are unwanted, including the blobfish. By the time they’re tossed back, they are either already dead or will often die soon after from their injuries and being unable to defend themselves from predators.

The good news is that the blobfish has now been named the mascot for the Ugly Animal Preservation Society, which aims to help out the ‘aesthitically-challenged’ animals who are facing extinction. President of the Society, Simon Watt, says that, “for too long the cute and fluffy animals have taken the limelight but now the blobfish will be a voice for the mingers who always get forgotten.”

The even better news is that you can start helping Blobby’s species right now by withdrawing your support for the fishing industry. How? Simply by not eating animals from the sea. Click here to make the pledge to go veg today and start saving the lives of blobfish and loads of other animals.

*Based on no scientific evidence whatsoever.