Mysterious Sea Creature With Scary Teeth Washes Up On Shore, Baffles People

A mysterious sea creature with terrifying teeth was found on a popular beach in Australia on Wednesday, baffling the internet.

The image of the creature, which had washed up on a beach in Queensland, was taken by a woman who spotted it in Noosa. The Sunshine Coast native shared the image of the creature on social media, asking people to help her identify it.

"Anyone know what kind of fish this is? I found it washed up on the North Shore this morning," she posted on a local community Facebook page.

Many Facebook users were confused as to what the creature was. Some thought it could be a flathead fish, while other guessed it could be the poisonous stonefish.

The image of the creature showed its eyes bulging out of the top of the head, with a mouth full of unusually thin teeth.

"Looks like he’s done himself a mischief," a man commented. Another user said: “Someone wants their dentures back,” while a third user joked: “It’s not a stone fish it’s a stoner fish hence the smile.”

Professor Culum Brown, from the Department of Biological Sciences at Macquarie University, confirmed to Yahoo News Australia the creature was a stargazer, also known as a monkfish in New Zealand.

“But it’s not the standard species that we get along the southeast coast. This looks more like the larger New Zealand species which is really common around the south island... (It) wouldn’t be too unusual for them to show up on the east coast of Australia though.”

According to SeaFishPool, these creatures are highly poisonous, and are commonly seen in the Mediterranean as well as in the Atlantic Ocean.

This is not the first time mysterious and bizarre-looking sea creatures have washed up on beaches.

Last month, a beachgoer in the U.K. was shocked to see a eel-like sea creature on the shore. Holly Asargiotakis said she was "startled" after seeing the enormous animal on Ferring Beach in Sussex. The woman said the creature was 4-6 feet long. Sarah Ward, living seas officer at Sussex Wildlife Trust, later identified the creature as a European conger eel – one of the biggest eel species in the world. Ward said it was likely the creature washed up on the shore after a stormy weather.