'Joker Fish' Has Human Teeth, Winning Smile

Posted 3/22/13 12:28 pm EST by Valerie Gallaher in Science

Sheepshead fish image from YouTube

Imagine catching a fish that smiles back at you with rows of very human-looking teeth! Meet the sheepshead fish, a creature of the sea The Joker would be proud of.

A resident of North America that can be found grinning from Cape Cod, MA to the coasts of Brazil, the sheepshead fish -- or Archosargus probatocephalus, if you want to get technical -- has incisors and molars that not only look human, but have similar positioning within its well-defined jaws.

Glancing at this toothy marine creature may provide a bit of nightmare fuel, but at least you know its strange appearance isn't the result of some freaky mutation from a leaky nuclear plant...or that a certain pasty-faced bad guy has been poisoning the local water supply with Smilex!