The truth about fish with teeth like humans

The sheephead (Archosargus probatocephalus) is a ray-finned marine fish mainly found along the east coast of North and South America. They are known for their incisors that look a lot like human teeth.

Sheephead fish have dark longitudinal stripes running down the light gray body. The fish also has sharp spines running down its back. Most sheepheads are between 43 and 45 centimeters long. However, some individuals can grow up to 91 cm, according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature.

Sheephead fish have human-like teeth.

Sheepheads grow human-like teeth as they mature so they can eat hard-shelled prey. As babies, they eat any mollusk they can find and a variety of small shellfish, including crustaceans several millimeters long such as ostriches. According to the IUCN, once lambs are about 5cm longer, they begin to eat hard shellfish such as krill and spiny fish.

According to the IUCN, sheepheads live in marine and estuarine habitats in the western Atlantic Ocean, from Nova Scotia in eastern Canada, down to the eastern United States and the Central American coast, and as far south as southern Brazil. .

While sheepheads typically live in salt and brackish water, they are sometimes found in freshwater habitats in the winter, when they seek out warmer waters where streams and rivers empty into the ocean. In late winter and early spring, the headfish go out to sea to lay eggs. Sheephead fish swim from the surface to a depth of 15 m.

To reproduce, the female releases her eggs, which the male fertilizes with sperm. Scientists don't know much about the spawning behavior of the cephalopods, but females can produce between 1,100 eggs and 250,000 eggs. Once fertilized, the eggs hatch in just 28 hours. Sheephead fish usually reach maturity 2 years old and can live at least 20 years.

Are sheephead fish dangerous to humans?

According to the IUCN, lamb head is safe for human consumption and is caught for commercial and recreational purposes. Even when sheepheads are fully organised, like rodents, they are not usually dangerous to humans, but can be intimidating to humans.

They pose no threat to humans unless harassed. Because they are very good eaters and have sharp dorsal fins, so after catching them, if you are not careful, it is easy for their sharp dorsal fin spines to poke you.