A snakehead fish from Florida. (Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images)

Well this is terrifying: a Virginia man has reeled in the world’s largest recorded snakehead fish.

When Spotsylvania plumber Caleb Newton pulled in the 17-pound, 6-ounce monstrosity on June 1, he knew it was a big one. But it wasn’t until today that the International Game Fish Association confirmed that his catch was, indeed, the world’s largest snakehead fish, beating the previous record by two ounces.

Newton caught the fish in Aquia Creek, an offshoot of the Potomac River located near the Quantico Marine Corps Base. According to the Fredericksburg Free-Lance Star, Newton says that the ferocious fish didn’t exactly put up much of a fight:

“It took me about a minute to get it in the boat,” he said at the time. The three-foot-long fish barely fit in his cooler. Newton took his catch to Green Top sporting goods store near Ashland to have it weighed on official scales, and to John Odenkirk, fisheries biologist with the Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries and snakehead expert, for identification.

Snakehead fish—often called “Frankenfish” because they look horrible and pretty much kill everything—are native Asian fish, but famously began popping up in a Maryland pond near the Potomac River in 2002, causing a mass panic and inspiring a bevy of ridiculous SyFy Channel movies.

The fish are known for their slimy scales, razor sharp teeth, terrifying ability to survive outside of water, and a general appearance that is the stuff nightmares are made of. Since the 2002 outbreak of the devilish fish, authorities have been trying to find ways to ensure they don’t destroy ecosystems, as they’re known to eat almost everything and anything in sight.

Newton tells the Free-Lance Star that he and his friends “have been catching big snakeheads in and around Aquia Creek for several years, with a number tipping the scales between 12 and 14 pounds.” While the catch is certainly one for the trophy room, NPR reports that the fearsome fish has become something of a delicacy among fisherman.

No word on what Newton is going to do with his prized catch, but why he didn’t immediately burn the thing with fire and sent it back to the hell it came from is a mystery.