Psychrolutes marcidus lives on the continental slope where pressure is on the order of a hundred times that at sea level. Its flesh is gelatinous and only slightly denser than seawater, and its skeleton is poorly ossified. That construction lets the fish hold position near the bottom without expending energy on a swim bladder, which would be a liability at depth.
Removed from that pressure, the tissue has no framework to hold its shape. The specimen that became an internet fixture, photographed after being hauled up during a survey off New Zealand, was a fish whose supporting water pressure had been taken away. Images and video of Psychrolutes species in situ show a compact, normally proportioned sculpin.
The famous photograph is also often attached to the wrong claims. The animal in it, nicknamed Mr Blobby, is generally identified as a Psychrolutes specimen collected in 2003 and preserved at the Australian Museum, not a creature that swims about looking mournful.