A mum walking along the beach with her young son was shocked to find a fish that had a mouthful of eerily human teeth.

Maleah Burrows, 31, encountered the freaky fish on the shores of St Simon’s Island in Georgia, USA.

She said: ‘We were just walking along the beach and it was washed up far from the shoreline and caught our attention.

‘I originally just thought it was a plain old fish – nothing exciting, but I still wanted to show my three-year-old.

‘Then as we got closer I saw all the teeth and I was shocked because I’d never seen anything like it.’

What she actually found were the remains of a sheepshead, a fish that uses its strange teeth to crush shrimp, clams, crabs and mussels.

They also have a reputation for stealing bait from fishermen.

The sheepshead uses its strange teeth to crush shrimp, clams, crabs and mussels (PIcture: Marine Institute)

Maleah, from Charlotte, North Carolina, added: ‘It had really thick, large scales on its body, which was interesting.

‘It had an entire mouthful of teeth – they weren’t pointy but blunt like an animal’s.

‘Behind its first row of teeth were buds that filled up its entire mouth.

‘I’m not sure what they were, but I’m guessing more teeth.’

‘It freaked me out a little bit thinking that something like this was swimming in the same water we were and how bad it would feel to get bitten by it.

‘Every person I’ve shown the pictures to has been shocked because they’ve never seen anything like it.’

Sheepshead begin to develop teeth when they are just 4.5mm long and they have a full set by the time they’re 15mm long.

They can grow up to 76cm long and often reach half a metre in size.

They’re typically found along the Gulf and Atlantic coasts of the US, and Sheepshead Bay in New York City is named after them.

Source:
courtesy of METRO

by Jane Wharton

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