Freaky fish with human teeth scares fisherman but daughter wants for tooth fairy
A freaky fish with a mouthful of “human teeth” has smashed records after being caught by a stunned fisherman.
Brian Summerlin, 38, was fishing in Tangier Sound, off the US state of Maryland, when something huge snagged his line. It turned out to be a sheepshead, which is a fish with eerily human gnashes, that’s notorious for stealing bait and being tough to catch.
The fisherman admitted his daughter wants to keep the teeth and place them under her pillow for the tooth fairy. He said: “They’re amazing fish that have adapted to the food they eat. They have front teeth that can bite off barnacles from any underwater structure. They also have molar-like teeth on the top and bottom of their mouths to crush crustaceans. My daughter wants to keep the teeth to put under her pillow for the tooth fairy because they look just like human teeth.”
Dragging the fish from the depths was no small feat, however. “Sheepshead are a really hard-fighting fish,” said Mr Summerlin. “They want to go back to the bottom – oftentimes you can lose them, because they want to go to a structure on the bottom where your line can be cut.
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The freaky fish has a mouthful of "human teeth" (Credit: Pen News/Brian Summerlin)
The freaky fish has a mouthful of "human teeth" (Credit: Pen News/Brian Summerlin)“Luckily my friend, Kris, told me to back down on the drag so the fish wouldn’t pop the line. “A few times it was pulling around 25lb of drag under the boat, so it was a little stressful.” But when Mr Summerlin saw the monstrous fish, he knew he’d landed a record breaker.
Weighing in at a staggering 16.6lb, it smashed the previous Maryland record of 14.1lb from August 2020 and dwarfed the average sheepshead weight of 3-4lb. Bizarrely, it already had a hook in its mouth that Brian recognised as his own, which had been lost when a fish broke his line an hour before.
Brian was left stunned at the fish (Credit: Pen News/Brian Summerlin)Afterwards, the fish was weighed with certified scales at Kool Ice and Seafood Company in Cambridge, Maryland. Now the record has been officially recognised by the state’s Department of Natural Resources, holding the crown in the Chesapeake Bay Division.
“I’m pretty excited about it,” said Mr Summerlin, from Princess Anne, Maryland. “I always knew there was a possibility to break the record. “My family also enjoyed eating the fish. Sheepshead is one of my family’s favourite fish to eat.” It comes after another Chesapeake Bay fisherman, Todd Elder, smashed a world record with his sheepshead catch in May. Mr Elder claimed a spearfishing record with his 17.4lb sheepshead, as recognised by the International Underwater Spearfishing Association.
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