This Hot-Tempered Sea Fish Has a Wider Mouth Than Body (Pics & Video)

The sarcastic fringehead (Neoclinus blanchardi) has a rather curious name, with an attitude to match. This creepy little fish can scare off animals much larger than itself with one show of its distended mouth, which is wider than its head, or even its whole body, for that matter.

Discovered in 1858, this ultra-aggressive little guy grows only to about 30 centimetres (12 inches) in length with a long and slender body, large pectoral fins and much smaller pelvic fins. It lives in the pacific waters, off the coast of North America – from San Francisco, USA to Baja California in Mexico. Sarcastic fringeheads are ambush predators, which means they tend to stake out a hidey hole that offers them both protection and a vantage point from where to pounce on prey. Once they've reverse parked into their chosen nook, they'll aggressively charge at anything that comes too near – including divers. And according to the survivors, they don't like to let go.