A beach walker in California, U.S., discovered a bizarre fish that looked like “Dracula.”

Along with a big dorsal fin, an elongated body, and big eyes, the fish featured two Dracula-like fangs that hung from the front of its mouth.

The odd fish was around four feet long and was still alive when the walker noticed it before attempting to return it to the surf. The West Marin Feed, a local news feed, published pictures of the fish.

According to the Daily Star, Christopher Martin, curator of ichthyology at the Museum of Vertebrate Zoology, recognised the species as a lancetfish.

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Alepisaurus ferox, or long-snouted lancetfish, is a large mammal fish that can grow up to seven feet in length. Other than in the polar seas, they exist in oceans all around the world at depths of 350 to 6,500 feet. Lancetfish prefer to hunt at night.

Even in clear tropical water, twilight zones are portions of water where only a small amount of sunlight enters. Some species’ reflecting scales allow them to blend in with the darkness around them in low light, making them appear the same colour as their surroundings.

Predators occasionally hunt by glancing upwards and spotting their prey against the glimmer of light from the surface. Lancetfish are active predators, and their guts are exceptional in that they often keep their meals intact, enabling scientists to examine what they’ve been eating.

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Lancetfish will occasionally consume smaller lancetfish since they eat whatever food is available to them in the twilight zone. The lancetfish’s fangs signal that it hunts actively.

In a similar incident, following exceptional weeks of rainfall in Australia, dozens of unusual and colourful fish species washed up on beaches.

Some beach photos, notably from New South Wales, depict strange-looking dead fish with vibrant colours.

The number of stranded sea dragons was at least ten times higher than usual, sparking much speculation and concerns about the abnormality.