On one afternoon the cool breeze carried an unmistakable scent to my nose: the rotten smell of death. I was obviously not the only one to notice; the portly showgirls to our right began to complain and make disgusted faces. I wrote it off as rotting food from the near by trashcans.
I was wrong. As I walked to the surf to cool off the stench become more apparent. I followed the foul odor and notice something odd jutting from the sand. Upon uncovering it completely I immediately noticed it's very odd, and equally ugly set of teeth.
This creatures had washed up on the shore and had either been partially devoured by seabirds or had simply rotted away. Nothing besides it's strange grill, save for the remnant of a fin, remained intact.
I'm certainly no marine biologist but the teeth of this fish was certainly unlike anything I had seen before. They were similar in angle and structure to the 'beak' of a parrot fish with the exception that there were many individual teeth rather than a solid top and bottom. There seemed to be too many teeth in the mouth for this creature to even properly flex it's jaws enough to eat. Was it a creature from the deep?
I'm off to Google odd long-tail keywords like "fish with weird teeth" to try to figure out what species this is. If I find any likely candidates I'll update this blog.
UPDATE: This didn't take long thanks to Google and another blog: http://www.irelandblog.net/index.php/category/travel/. Apparently these things live on both sides of the Atlantic. He also described it as 'strange'. Here's the pic I pulled from his blog showing the exact same teeth on a more complete fish:
I'm going to do a bit more research and see if I can can come up with the name of this fish. Suggestions appreciated.
I think ya got something here Palmer!
ReplyDeleteIt smelled even worse than it looked.
ReplyDeleteMy first thought was a parrot fish, but as I saw the individual teeth, I realized it was something else. I'm sure I could probably find out the name of this fish though.
ReplyDeleteSo do it!
ReplyDeleteIt might be a close relative of the seawolf. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atlantic_wolffish
ReplyDeleteThe family name is anarhichadidae, thing is, while seawolves are found in ireland, they typically don't go further south than New Jersey, however, due to the decay of this, the ocean current might've dragged it down the east coast. But I'm not entirely sure due to my lack of knowledge regarding ocean currents.
Aha! I have identified the illusive fish! I can say, without a doubt that it is a Grey Triggerfish!
ReplyDeletehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grey_triggerfish
Their teeth are exactly the same as your fish's teeth: http://www.tribenwater.com/gallery/data/500/medium/triggerfish_mouth.jpg
Also, it has a hourglass shaped caudal fin like your fish.
http://www.glaucus.org.uk/trigger_SS.jpg
So, what do I get for my successful hard work?
I don't think that's it, bro. The teeth don't look the same.
ReplyDeleteI retract, bro. You are right. Good work!
ReplyDelete