Scientists discovered that the fish, which hunts in the north Pacific Ocean waters, has more than just hundreds of teeth. They also shed and replace them constantly.
Lingcods are one of the hardest-touring creatures on Earth. They have approximately 555 fine, pointed teeth that line two sets of jaws.
To keep those choppers sharp, it loses them as fast as they grow — giving up as many as 20 teeth a day.
Lead author Karly Cohen (a doctoral student in biology at Washington University) told Live Science that teeth cover every bony area in the mouths of these people.
Those teeth are put to good use: growing up to five feet long and 130 pounds, the lingcod is a fierce predator that devours almost anything it can fit in its mouth — including herring, salmon, rockfish, crabs, squid and even small octopuses.
The lingcod will have a harder time catching its prey if it has duller teeth. According to Kory Evans (a Rice University fish ecologist who was not part of the study), it is very important that lingcods have the ability to replace their teeth.
“You should have straight, sharp teeth. Your teeth must be perfectly aligned.”
Scroll to the bottom for more
With approximately 555 teeth that look like needles, the lingcod is one among the most toothy creatures on Earth. It has two jaw sets with approximately 555 lingcod.
Lingcods are native to North America’s west coast, from Baja in California to the Gulf of Alaska.
Like most fish, it has two sets of jaws — the main oral jaws and a second set of ‘pharyngeal’ jaws, deeper in their throat, that are used to chew their food and help move it from down to their stomach.
While canines and incisors are common in humans, lingcods have hundreds of needlelike teeth. These tiny, but powerful, teeth could crush the shells of crabs.
Cohen stated that it’s common for lingcod to lose their teeth.
Scientists recently discovered the fish sheds about 20 teeth per day to protect its sharks.
While we humans may have canines and incisors in our mouths, the lingcod has hundreds of tiny needle-like teeth. They are strong enough to break a crab shell.
However, she said that “we didn’t really know what a lot” meant.”
Cohen and Emily Carr, a University of South Florida biology undergraduate, conducted research on 20 Pacific lingcod fish kept at Friday Harbor Laboratories.
After being placed in the seawater tank with a dye which stained their teeth and then returned to their tank, they were allowed to rest for 10 more days.
After that, they were transferred to another seawater aquarium containing a green dye.
Researchers at the University of Washington placed 20 lingcod under seawater tanks containing red- and green dyes.
All teeth at the beginning would show both the red dye and the green dye. Teeth that had been in place for 10 days would show only the green dye.
This means that any teeth which were in place at the beginning would have both the red dye and the green dye, while those that had grown during the 10 day period would only be showing the green dye.
Carr removed the dead fish from their jaws and placed them under a microscope. In a dark lab, he calculated the proportion of green to red teeth in each specimen.
‘Karly [Cohen]Carr explained to Live Science that she had put me into a closet. She then gave me a paper.
She calculated that fish would lose and replace 3 per cent of their teeth each day, which is about 20 percent.
Lingcods replace 20 to 25 teeth per day. That’s equivalent to losing a tooth, then growing a new one each 24 hours for a human.
It would feel like losing one tooth every 24 hours and then growing another.
Cohen and Carr were unsure why the lingcods’ pharyngeal jaws lose their teeth faster.
In their report, they stated that there was no significant difference in replacement rates between feeding fish and not-feeding fish. This suggests that food is not an important factor for tooth replacement.
Like human teeth, the lingcod tooth was pre-programmed in order to determine size and where it should be placed.
They wrote that “smaller teeth in one place will not grow into bigger teeth even if there is a larger tooth near by.”
Sharks also have multiple rows of teeth — anywhere from five to 15 rows — and the whale shark sports a mindblowing 3,000 chompers in all.
Shark teeth are different from other fish’s in many ways. The upper jaw and bottom jaws of shark teeth can be quite distinct.
Cohen stated that Lingcod has a mouth more like other species so it’serves as a very nice model for studying the teeth in fish.
Lingcod are said to have an unusual appearance but a taste that is similar to lobster
Although the lingcod has many teeth, it is not the only unique aspect of its anatomy. About 20% of the species have blue- or turquoise flesh due to a diet high in chlorophyll.
A 2017 video was posted by a fisherman to Instagram that showed him spearing a Lingcod, then cutting through its aqua-blue interior.
Coloration on fish will fade when it is cooked.
Many people like this. [eating]Jens Haagen Hansen from Anchorage told The Infinite Kitchen that she prefers lingcod to other fish.
He said that while lingcod can be an unsightly fish, its taste and texture are delicious. It flakes very nicely and is often called lobster-like by some chefs. It can give off that strong feeling if it’s prepared correctly.