sheepshead

(also called ‘convict fish’ ‘sea beam’ — for the pronunciation of this word, please click here)

a sheepshead/convict fish

a kind of fish – salt water, bony, finned and scaly fish – (in adults) grey body colour with 5-7 dark bars on the sides, large sharp spines (12) on the back, hard mouth with several rows of flat teeth, wedge-shaped ‘V’ tail; size: on average, 5-8 inches long (some can grow up to 3 feet long), and weight: 2-5 Kg. (some species grow up to 10 Kg. and some individuals grow to 65 Kg.); feeds on (eats) shellfish – clams, oysters, barnacles, crabs, and shrimps; lives for 8-20 years; found in the Atlantic and Gulf coasts of the United States of America, and along the Gulf of Mexico to Brazil

Special Features:

a sheepshead’s teeth

The sheepshead are a good food and sport fish!

The sheepshead got its name for the large front teeth on both the top and bottom jaws that look exactly like the teeth of a sheep (or more like that of a person)!

a convict in striped uniform

The sheepshead is also called ‘convict fish’ because of the grey body and dark bars that look like a convict’s (prisoner’s) uniform, and also because they are known to steal the ‘bait’ off the fishing hooks!

The ‘Sheepshead Bay’ in New York, USA, is not named ‘sheepshead’ because it looks like the head of a sheep, but because there used to be large numbers of the ‘sheepshead fish’ in those waters some time ago (unfortunately the ‘sheepshead fish’ are not found in those waters any longer)!!

For an illustrious article about sheepshead fish, please click here & please click here.