Not a Gremlin – many fish also have teeth in their throats

By The Marine Detective on October 28, 2024

Let me start by saying . . . no one looks good when they are this dead.

Also, Halloween is nigh so that may have sparked some “spooky” speculations.

These photos of a dried up little fish created a lot of interest on the Field Naturalists of Vancouver Island Facebook page recently. Kendra Lukow found the fish at Race Rocks.

I think what led to confusion, misinterpretation, and maybe a few nightmares is that people may not realize that bony fish species have teeth in their throats. And, with this fish being so dried out, and thereby contorted, these teeth appear to be the main teeth in the “oral jaw”. But many of the teeth you see in these images are the “pharyngeal teeth”.

You may have noticed that fish do not have hands so how to hold onto your prey, chew it into smaller parts, and move it into your stomach? Evolution’s solution: the teeth you are more familiar with (in the oral jaw) hold onto the prey, while the secondary set of teeth in the throat (the pharyngeal jaw) chew and/or pull on the prey.

Even the fish species you are really familiar with, like salmon, have this second set of teeth. These teeth just look far more prominent in this dried up individual.

So which fish species did Kendra find? Even in having consulted some super fish experts, there is no certain ID. Some experts have put forward that the teeth and head shape look more like a large sculpin species e.g. Cabezon or Great Sculpin. Other experts reference that some photos show scales on the dry skin. Sculpins don’t have scales so that would make the ID of a greenling species more likely e.g. Lingcod or Rock Greenling.

Please note that motivation to make this blog is not to ID the very dry and dead fish. It’s to add to the awareness about this adaption in so many fish – the pharyngeal teeth. It’s to shift the “ew” to awe.

With great thanks to Andy Lamb, Dr. Milton Love and Gavin Hanke for their insights into the fish ID.

See below for a great TedEd animation explaining fish pharyngeal jaws.