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Scary looking fish with 'human-like' teeth found in Argentinian river

The scary looking fish was found in Argentina (CEN)
The scary looking fish was found in Argentina (CEN)

A bizarre – and ‘scary’ – looking fish with human-like teeth has been discovered by local farmers in Argentina.

A woman working in a rice field, near the town of San Javier, in the north-eastern province of Santa Fe, saw and photographed the strange creature, which has since been identified as a South American lungfish.

Maria Julia Candotti, said it a long eel-like body, but with wrinkled skin and a mouthful of ugly human-like teeth.

The fish was spotted in San Javier, in Argentina (CEN)
The fish was spotted in San Javier, in Argentina (CEN)

‘This beauty travelled down the river to go into the rice field… we do not know what it is, but it is the second one we have found… be careful,’ she wrote on Facebook.

The sight of the strange creature shocked online commentators, including one calling themselves ‘Maria Celeste Christen’ who commented: ‘Disgusting and scary.’

Experts later identified it from the photographs as a South American lungfish (epidosiren paradoxa) which can breathe air but is usually found in swamps and slow-moving waters.

Scared locals said it had human-like teeth (CEN)
Scared locals said it had human-like teeth (CEN)

Pablo Scarabotti, a scientist with the National Institute of Lumnology of Conicet, said the species – also known as the American mud fish – was unique to South America.

He said: ‘They build small caves in the mud where they go into and create a kind of cocoon where they can stay for two or three years without needing to go to the surface.’

ARGENTINA: This bizarre looking creature has been identified as a South American lungfish (CEN)
ARGENTINA: This bizarre looking creature has been identified as a South American lungfish (CEN)

Their huge teeth are need to break the shells of crabs and snails which make up a major part of their diet.

Scientists know relatively little about the South American lungfish which is found only in the Amazon, Paraguay, and lower Parana River which runs through various countries including Argentina and Brazil.

The fish can grow to be more than four feet long.