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Last week ( Aug 3 ) , angler at Jennette ’s Pier in North Carolina pulled up something unexpected — and uncanny — from the Atlantic : a fish with human teeth .
Yes , thisfish — and its teeth — are literal . But fortunately , there ’s nothing human about it .
Hello, gorgeous!
It ’s call asheepshead fish(Archosargus probatocephalus ) — also known as a convict fish for the dark-skinned stripes running down its gray body , evocative of a unimaginative prison house jumpsuit , according to theMaryland Department of Natural Resources . The Pisces the Fishes is ordinarily found swim along the Atlantic coast , from New York to Brazil , and give Sheepshead Bay , Brooklyn , its name . They can grow up to 3 feet ( 91 centimeters ) long and dine on a multifariousness of oysters , simoleons , crustacean and the odd moment of plant matter .
Hence , the teeth .
Like humans , the sheepshead Pisces the Fishes has a diverse , omnivorousdiet — and , like human , it has a band of muted , stubby chompers to get through repast . A amply - arise sheepshead fish will typically run around three rowing of molars in its upper jaw and two row in its lower jaw , all the better to crunch through the shell of its prey , accord toScientific American . But it ’s the fish ’s incisors ( front tooth ) that depend the most humanoid . ( They ’re even coat with enamel , Scientific American reported . )
All these tooth develop gradually over the Pisces the Fishes ’s biography , as the animal farm and graduates from a diet of predominantly easygoing - bodied animals to a shellfish - gruelling carte later in life . In the photoshared on Facebookby Jennette ’s Pier , you could see two new course of molars developing in the back of the Pisces the Fishes ’s lower jaw .
With a set of chompers like that , does a Archosargus probatocephalus Pisces personate any threat to humans ? allot to David Catania , the collections coach for ichthyology at the California Academy of Sciences , the answer isprobably not .
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" I would not hesitate to drown in waters inhabited by these fish,“Catania told Snopes.com . " They pose no threat to mankind unless molest . Since they are good to eat , sheepshead are direct by anglers , so the manipulation of one after capture creates the possible action of being bitten or poked by their sharp dorsal fin spines . "
So , Atlantic bather need not worry about excuse any human being - shaped bite marks on their butts … at least not where the sheepshead Pisces the Fishes is concerned .
primitively published on Live Science .
