This Fish That Has Human Teeth Is Real And It Will Haunt My Dreams

Imagine swimming along and this guy just chompin' on you.

The South Carolina Department of Natural Resources is a government agency that is in charge of things like hunting, boating, fishing, and conservation in the Palmetto State. It also has a pretty neat Facebook page!

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Check out this post on the Boykin Spaniel, the official state dog of South Carolina. How nice!

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The agency also shares photos of the state's beautiful wildlife.

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Including this f— WAIT, WTF IS THIS???

No, I didn't photoshop a human mouth on a fish. This is a real fish with teeth like a human's. The agency posted it and invited Facebook readers to guess what kind of fish it is. It went viral because, I mean, look at it.

"You’ll need a saltwater fishing license to catch me! I like to hang out near rocks, jetties, reefs, and even bridges. I’m also known as the convict fish because of my black and white stripes. The coolest thing about me? I have human-like incisors and molars to help crush my food. I like shrimp and oysters just like you do!" the agency wrote on its Facebook page.

"Coolest" is relative, I suppose!!!

People naturally had a lot of comments.

Say what, Brenda?!?

Drag her, Grace.

Many people guessed correctly, though. A spokesperson for the agency, David Lucas, confirmed to BuzzFeed News the fish is called a sheepshead. Here's a YouTube video of the fish and its chompers in action.

View this video on YouTube

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"[The fish is] very common in the waters off our coast and a favorite of saltwater anglers here in South Carolina," Lucas said. "Other folks less familiar with this fish are probably quite surprised to see the teeth it sports."

Lucas gave kudos to Pam Corwin, a biologist and member of the agency's Freshwater Fisheries Section staff, for writing the viral post.

"Of course it’s great when any of our social media posts get wider reach — we are always interested in communicating with folks about our state’s outstanding natural resources and our agency’s role in managing and conserving them," he said.

Sweet dreams!

@atomicfact / Twitter
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