Move over blobfish: it’s time to crown a new Fish of the Year

Voting for the Mountains to Sea Conservation Trust Fish of the Year officially opens on Saturday, February 28th. The competition is an opportunity to ‘share the love’, allowing participants to learn more about New Zealand’s diverse marine and freshwater life. 

The Trust’s Poutokomanawa (Co-Director) Samara Nicholas told rova news the event targets community engagement. 

“A lot of our marine and freshwater species are endemic to New Zealand, that means they're found only here and nowhere else in the world. So we're hoping that the competition will bring some awareness of some of those interesting facts and what makes our marine and freshwater fish life so unique,” she said. 

To ensure fairness, the 2025 champion blobfish is no longer in the running (or swimming). 

Instead this year’s contenders include the orange roughy — another deep-water fish — alongside a variety of other marine and freshwater species.

The competition is now in its sixth year. It gained international momentum in 2025 when global outlets like the BBC reported on New Zealand crowning the ‘world’s ugliest animal’ as its champion. 

It’s hoped engagement will continue to go swimmingly. 

“A lot of our freshwater fish are threatened, they're part of the whitebait species, so we're trying to get some awareness around some of the threats to our freshwater fish as well, and to learn some interesting new facts about the marine fish,” Nicholas said. 

The Trust is working with various organisations to run events during the competition, which can be found online. There’s a colouring comp for kids and opportunities for the public to see some species in their natural environment.

Voting remains open until March 15th.