A man was killed and his brother left clinging to life after an Upper Manhattan fishmonger stabbed them for allegedly trying to steal shrimp from the eatery, authorities said Wednesday.

The brothers — identified by their distraught father as Malik Burrell, 25, and Robert ‘Bobby’ Burrell, 29 — were knifed inside the Fish Express Fish Market on St. Nicholas Place near Edgecombe Avenue in Sugar Hill around 9:45 p.m. Tuesday, cops said.

Malik died from his wounds and Bobby was listed in stable condition, although he suffered a punctured lung and other injuries, according to the dad.

Police arrested the worker, Junior Hernandez, 34, of The Bronx. He was charged with murder, criminal possession of a weapon and assault.

As he was being led of the 30th Precinct Tuesday night, Hernandez said: “Sorry. I never meant to hurt him.”

Hernandez has no known prior criminal history.

The deadly fracas — which was captured on a store security camera — began when one of the brothers tried to swipe the seafood, authorities said.

He was initially kicked out of the market without any commotion — but returned a short time later with his brother and the pair became aggressive, cops said.

The worker then pulled out a knife and stabbed both intruders in their torsos, authorities said.

Both were taken to Harlem Hospital, where the younger brother was pronounced dead and the older brother was listed in stable condition.

Police sources said the dead man was the aggressor. After the initial argument, he returned with his brother who was waiting outside and they fought with the worker, the sources said.

Cops said they found a knife at the scene. Sources said the weapon used in the killing was a work knife, not one Hernandez owned personally.

Robert Burrell, 49, of Baltimore, wailed as soon as he saw his sons’ blood stains on the concrete.

“My babies!” the devastated dad cried. It was Malik’s birthday, he told The Post. Bobby was at the shop picking up some shrimp for their grandmother to cook in celebration, he said.

“My sons were good kids, they ain’t get in no trouble, they not no hard criminals,” Burrell told The Post. “I’m crushed man, I’m hurt. I can’t believe my boy was killed over some shrimps. They killed my baby on his birthday.”

He denied his sons were trying to steal from the store, saying that nobody in the family needs to shoplift food.

“I know damn well my sons aren’t stealing nothing,” Robert said. “They have money. They have money on their cash app and they had money in their pocket. It’s crazy that they say he try to steal.”

But a witness, 60-year-old Pedro Laza of Harlem, said Bobby had allegedly indeed been trying to steal — “The guy tried to stick a lobster down his pants,” he said.

He was reticent when caught, however. And he was pulling the shrimp out of his pants to return it when the workers began wailing on him, Laza said. Then a man Laza referred to as “Junior” came out with a butcher knife and began stabbing.

“Nobody stopped him stabbing,” Laza said. “He was like a machine.”

Robert insisted the man was not acting in self-defense when he attacked his sons.

“They didn’t have no weapons,” Robert said. “They came at my sons with weapons. You see who’s dead and who’s bleeding in the hospital … They’re trying to cover for themselves.”

 Zaimar Eusebio, mother of Bobby Burrell’s daughter, described the grisly scene she stumbled upon at the fish market, a colorful building on a corner.  

“They was bleeding bad, Malik’s whole stomach was out,” Eusebio said. “We’re standing in his blood.”

Malik was still alive and trying to talk on his phone when she arrived, she said.

“I was telling him, keep your eyes open,” she said, before she began to sob.

Robert said Malik, who also lived in Baltimore until about three weeks ago, was a good kid — a high school football legend who worked with his dad in a tire shop, plugging and patching tires for a living.

He asked his father to bring him to New York, where Robert’s family has lived since 1968, after going through issues with his girlfriend, his dad said.  

“My son was not no kid that run the street doing bad things,” Robert said. “He’s not with that crowd. You look at his criminal record — he doesn’t have one.”

His son Bobby lives in New York with his wife and two kids, Robert added.

“He’s a good kid, he’s well-liked,” Robert said. “Everybody around here knows him. He’s polite to everybody, he’s well-mannered.”