Sheepshead Fish With Human-Like Teeth Plucked From North Carolina Coast

[marble falls]

Sheepshead Fish With Human-Like Teeth Plucked From North Carolina Coast

The Atlantic coast swimmer uses its molars to crush the shells of various mollusks and crustaceans

The coastal critter was dubbed the sheepshead fish for the way its mouth resembles the muzzle of a sheep. Jennette's Pier via Facebook

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Elizabeth Gamillo

Daily Correspondent
August 9, 2021



Last week, an angler casting a line off Jennette's Pier in Nags Head, North Carolina, caught a hefty and toothy nine-pound sheepshead fish (Archosargus probatocephalus). The fish, also known as convict fish for their black and grey horizontally striped body and ability to steal bait, have large, beady black eyes and an uncanny grin that resembles a human smile. Photos of the catch shared to Facebook on August 3 prompted many comments from users astonished by the fish's set of jaws, reports Brandon Specktor for Live Science.

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A full-grown sheepshead will grow up to three feet long, reports Live Science. They'll eventually grow three rows of stubby, flat teeth in their upper jaw and two rows lining their lower jaw. The fish's front teeth are even coated with enamel, like the human incisors they resemble.

Anglers can find sheepshead fish swimming near the Atlantic coast from Massachusetts to Brazil. Despite being caught for sport, they are edible. Many Facebook users, including Nathan Martin, the angler who caught the fish, commented on how tasty these fish are, the Post reports.

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"I would not hesitate to swim in waters inhabited by these fish," says David Catania, a collections manager at the California Academy of Sciences, to Madison Dapcevich of Snopes.com. "They pose no threat to humans unless harassed. Since they are good to eat, sheepshead are targeted by anglers, so the handling of one after capture creates the possibility of being bitten or poked by their sharp dorsal fin spines."

[Hoyt]

1. Never eaten one, but Sheephead fishing was a big deal when lived in NC in 1950/60s.

[marble falls]

2. We caught fresh water sheepshead on Lake Erie. We tossed ones over five lbs back ...

... because the grain is large, any they taste 'muddy'. But the smaller ones are very good eating.

Some restaurants buy the bigger ones them and sell them as white fish on the menu, baking them in milk.

[brer cat]

3. That is spooky. It looks like a fish with dentures.

[viva la]

4. Looks like a horse's face

I would be afraid to encounter that one.

I remember eating sheepshead -- kind of sweet and mild-- unlike that face!

[multigraincracker]

5. Those teeth almost make it look

like it smoked and drank coffee.

[MFM008]

6. no

just no.