Human teeth are incredibly weird. I didn't realize how weird they were until a friend showed me memes of other animals photoshop so that they look like they have human teeth. It turns out that every non-human animal looks hilarious when you give them our dentition, which might imply that we look hilarious too. We're just too used to looking at

ourselves. For a complex mix of reasons that I'll detail on this show, our teeth are basically

flat, broad, square, and unusually small. This animal, a fish, has teeth that look almost exactly like ours. No Photoshop

involved, and the results are as hilarious. Today we're going to explain why they have our teeth.

Today we're going to talk about an animal with

many names, some of them irreconcilable, the vegetarian piranha, the testicle eating fish, the fish

with human teeth, the pacu, specifically the red-bellied pacu, pyractus, brachypomus.

Today we're going to reconcile those names, discuss an unbelievable animal, and you're going to

learn far too much about teeth. I'm Mackin, this is species.

Welcome.

Prepare for some lighter content than usual.

First, though, I want to give a generalized reply to a type of message I receive every

single week that says something along the lines of I love the show, but I can't afford to donate.

I love getting these emails because they tell me that I've made the right decision to make

paying for this podcast entirely voluntary. However, if you can't afford to donate, you can still

help. Right now, on the same device you are currently listening to this,

you can send the link to this show to someone who likes animals. We don't have an advertising budget,

but we do have a marketing team. It's you. Thank you so much for sharing the show.

Thank you, Eric and the Animals for playing me in.

And now, without further ado, I present to you the Pacu.

Teeth are incredible.

Your teeth are incredible. Think about this for a moment. Your teeth are strong enough to break and destroy all the food you eat in your life, and yet your teeth are made up exclusively of materials derived entirely from the food that they break up.

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