Rare, Menacing-Looking Deep Sea Fish With Needle Sharp Teeth Washes Up on California Beach

Pacific footballfish live 2,000 to 3,300 feet in the ocean where there is no sunlight, making the creature's appearance on a California beach especially surprising

A California man recently made a shocking discovery at California's Torrey Pines State Beach.

On Nov. 13, while at the San Diego beach, Jay Beiler thought he saw a jellyfish washed up on the shore. Once Beiler got closer to the creature, he discovered it was a rare Pacific footballfish with a menacing appearance, KTRK-TV reported.

"At first I thought it was a jellyfish or something, and then I went and looked at it a little more carefully, and some other people were gathered around it too, and then I saw that it was this very unusual fish ... It's the stuff of nightmares — mouth almost looked bloody! I'd say it was nearly a foot long," said Beiler per KTRK-TV.

According to the California Academy of Sciences, the Pacific footballfish is one of more than 300 living species of anglerfish, a deep-sea fish.

The question of how the fish washed up ashore remains somewhat of a mystery considering Pacific footballfish live 2,000 to 3,300 feet deep in the ocean where there is no sunlight.

The fish have globe-shaped bodies, prickly skin, minuscule eyes, and needle-sharp teeth.

According to ABC 7 Los Angeles, another Pacific footballfish sighting occurred in May in Orange County near Crystal Cove State Park.

At that time, park officials described the fish in a Facebook post, noting that the species has "teeth like pointed shards of glass" and a large mouth "capable of sucking up and swallowing prey the size of their own body."