Do Sharks Have a Tongue? | interesting fact
Today I’m exploring the question ‘do sharks have tongues? Sharks do indeed have a tongue,
but it is nothing like the kind of tongue that you and I have. We also don’t call it a tongue, but a basihyal. The basihyal is a small, thick, piece of cartilage, that sits on the floor of the shark’s mouth. In most species of shark (and in fish), the basihyal is pretty useless.
It just sits there lazily doing absolutely nothing. Unlike the human tongue, or the tongue of other animals, the shark’s tongue can’t really move. It has no taste buds. The shark does have taste buds on the lining of its mouth and throat. Not for tasting if things are yummy like a human tongue does, but for deciding whether something is edible. Whether it is potentially food. Some sharks do have a more useful basihyal though and they use it to suck up their prey. There are three groups of shark species that can use their basihyal in this way. The orectoloboids (the carpet sharks), the heterodontoids (or the bullhead sharks), and the Isistius spp (the cookiecutter sharks). Now the cookie cutter sharks have huge basihyals, and they use them to create a kind of oral vacuum, that sucks up a kind of combination of large, sharp teeth, body movements, thick lips, and suction. Almost like the ultimate hoover shark! So there you have it, do sharks have tongues? Yes they do, and so do fish.
