The Pacific Spiny Lumpsucker Is Armed to the Teeth

The diminutive predator is a terrible swimmer but thrives in the intertidal zone thanks to odd evolutionary adaptation.

The nightmare of the Pacific spiny lumpsucker starts with the teeth: needle-sharp, lining the rim of bulbous lips. A single fin crowns the fish’s head like a mohawk, and spiked studs cover nearly every inch of its body, recalling an armored car from a “Mad Max” movie.

But the nightmare passes quickly: The Pacific spiny lumpsucker is barely three inches long.

“Pacific spiny lumpsuckers are certainly one of the cutest fish that you can find,” Karly Cohen, a Ph.D. candidate in biology at the University of Washington, said recently.