A fisherman in North Carolina caught a Sheepshead fish with what resembled human teeth.
The photos were posted to Facebook by Jennette’s Pier, which is described on its page as the “longest public pier in North Carolina. At 1,000-foot long, Jennette’s offers anglers the opportunity to land various types of fish. From pig fish to flounder, blues to dolphin, Jennette’s has it all. The 16,000-square-foot pier house shops offer refreshments, tackle and gifts.”
On August 3, 2021, Jennette’s Pier’s Facebook page posted a picture of the Sheepshead with bizarrely human appearing teeth and captioned the post, “#bigteethbigtimes.” According to Live Science, the fish and its teeth are real, and it was pulled out of the Atlantic.
Here’s what you need to know:
People Responded With Jokes on the Pier’s Facebook Page
The pier’s page posted two photos; one shows the fish with its mouth open and a set of human like molars. The other shows the fisherman holding the creature at a different angle. With a third photo, the site wrote, “Fishing Report Tuesday, Aug. 3: So far, SEA MULLET and SAND PERCH. Big, wind-blown seas and Water temp 77 degrees. Winds NE at 16 knots. Low tides 9:55 a.m. and 11:28 p.m. High tide 4:34 p.m. A happy Nathan Martin of South Mills caught this nice toothy 9 lb. SHEEPSHEAD yesterday.”
People filled up the pier’s Facebook page with comments. “Is this where dentures come from?” wrote one. “I know people who would love to have that many teeth. Lol,” a woman responded.
“I’ve never in my life seen a fish like this! Crazy!!!” a woman wrote. “Grandma, what big teeth you have!” said another. “Needs braces but otherwise looks great!” joked a man.
Sheepshead Have ‘Several Rows of Stubby Teeth’ to Crush the Shells of Prey
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It’s not uncommon for Sheepshead fish to look like they have human teeth.
Scientific American described the fish’s teeth. “A fully-grown adult sheepshead will have well-defined incisors sitting at the front of the jaw, and molars set in three rows in the upper jaw and two rows in the lower jaw,” the site reported.
“It has strong, heavy grinders set in the rear of the jaw too, which are particularly important for crushing the shells of its prey. As with humans, this unique combination of teeth helps the sheepshead process a wide-ranging, omnivorous diet consisting of a variety of vertebrates, invertebrates and some plant material.”
According to the Maryland Department of Natural Resources, this fish is not uncommon. Sheepshead “have a hard mouth, with several rows of stubby teeth – the frontal ones closely resembling human teeth – which help crush the shells of prey,” the site says.
”They have a deep and compressed in body shape, with five or six dark bars on the side of the body over a gray background. They have sharp dorsal spines.” The site adds, “The sheepshead is found in coastal waters along the western Atlantic, from Nova Scotia to Brazil, but the greatest concentration is around southwest Florida.”
According to Maryland DNR, Sheepshead “can grow to 76 cm (30 in), but commonly reaches 30 to 50 cm (10 to 20 in). The average weight of a sheepshead is 1.4 to 1.8 kg (3 to 4 lb), but some individuals reach the range of 4.5 to 6.8 kg (10 to 15 lb).”
The site adds, “These fish prefer inshore around rock pilings, jetties, mangrove roots, and piers as well as in tidal creeks, the euryhaline sheepshead prefers brackish waters. They also seek out warmer spots near spring outlets and river discharges and sometimes enter freshwater during the winter months. These fish move to offshore areas in later winter and early spring for spawning.”
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