A Barrington resident was out for a walk along Barrington Town Beach Wednesday morning, Aug. 26, when she came up a small fish that had washed up on the sand.

The fish appears to be a baby shark. (Note: We're not shark experts, so feel free to share a comment if you know otherwise.)

Barrington Times staff forwarded the photo to the Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management in an effort to officially identify the creature.

Sharks much larger than this have been spotted all along the Eastern coast of the United States and are frequent visitors to Cape Cod.

UPDATE: Here's what DEM reported back — "According to our marine fisheries scientists this is a dogfish for sure — most likely the smooth species although they can't be certain from the condition. The other species is a spiny dogfish. They are common around here and fished commercially. Staff have been catching them of late in the Bay trawl survey."

DEM also clarified that dogfish are sharks.

"They are small sharks that are very common in these waters..."

The Atlantic White Shark Conservancy has also confirmed that it is a small Smooth Dogfish. A marine biologist stated — "You can tell it's a smooth versus a spiny dogfish because there is a lack of spines, there is also an anal-fin. The caudal fin (tail fin) is another dead give-away."