# Are fish the only creatures without a Tongue? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [October 12, 2014, 1:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-fish-the-only-creatures-without-a-tongue/701082 "2014-10-12T01:30:26Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2014, 1:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-fish-the-only-creatures-without-a-tongue/701082/1 "2014-10-12T01:30:26Z")
This came up in a game show (they were asking about a bird). All the birds I’ve seen have tongues. Reptiles flick their tongues. Mamuals have them. Are there any exceptions? Do all creatures \*\*except \*\*fish have tongues? Do any use it for sexual pleasure except humans? ---
**Author:** ![Revtim](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/revtim/32/1042_2.png) [@Revtim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revtim)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2014, 1:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-fish-the-only-creatures-without-a-tongue/701082/2 "2014-10-12T01:37:23Z")
I know at least some fish have tongues, because I was once horrified by a picture of a parasite that actually replaces the tongue of a fish. ---
**Author:** ![the\_diego](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7bcc69/32.png) [@the\_diego](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/the_diego)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2014, 1:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-fish-the-only-creatures-without-a-tongue/701082/3 "2014-10-12T01:46:47Z")
Pretty much any animal that eats through a mouth needs a tongue, except for those that don’t bite or chew, or just allow small particles into their mouths. I can think of sea anemones, worms, various gastropods. Not sure of insects and other arthropods. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2014, 1:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-fish-the-only-creatures-without-a-tongue/701082/4 "2014-10-12T01:51:18Z")
> [@aceplace57](#): > > Are there any exceptions? Do all creatures \*\*except \*\*fish have tongues? > > Do any use it for sexual pleasure except humans? Some fishes are mouth brooders. They carry eggs and young about in their mouth. I don’t know if they get off on it. :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2014, 1:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-fish-the-only-creatures-without-a-tongue/701082/5 "2014-10-12T01:55:25Z")
I totally forgot about insects. They are so tiny that I’ve never seen a mouth, much less a tongue. 🙂 I don’t know if they have tongues or not. > [@the\_diego](#): > > Pretty much any animal that eats through a mouth needs a tongue, except for those that don’t bite or chew, or just allow small particles into their mouths. I can think of sea anemones, worms, various gastropods. Not sure of insects and other arthropods. ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2014, 1:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-fish-the-only-creatures-without-a-tongue/701082/6 "2014-10-12T01:57:52Z")
> [@Revtim](#): > > I know at least some fish have tongues, because I was once horrified by a picture of a parasite that actually replaces the tongue of a fish. You mean this [cute little fella](http://questionableevolution.files.wordpress.com/2012/06/cymothoa_exigua.jpg)? 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Revtim](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/revtim/32/1042_2.png) [@Revtim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revtim)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2014, 2:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-fish-the-only-creatures-without-a-tongue/701082/7 "2014-10-12T02:46:08Z")
> [@running\_coach](#): > > You mean this [cute little fella](http://questionableevolution.files.wordpress.com/2012/06/cymothoa_exigua.jpg)? 😃 Yeah, that’s the nasty little thing. Creepy. ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2014, 3:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-fish-the-only-creatures-without-a-tongue/701082/8 "2014-10-12T03:24:10Z")
That has to be photoshopped. It’s got human upper teeth! That’s not real? Is it? ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2014, 3:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-fish-the-only-creatures-without-a-tongue/701082/9 "2014-10-12T03:28:06Z")
> [@aceplace57](#): > > That has to be photoshopped. It’s got human upper teeth! That’s not real? Is it? It’s real. [Previous thread.](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=694620&highlight=catfish) ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2014, 3:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-fish-the-only-creatures-without-a-tongue/701082/10 "2014-10-12T03:29:20Z")
> [@aceplace57](#): > > That has to be photoshopped. It’s got human upper teeth! That’s not real? Is it? The parasite is real. Fish have various types of teeth, although as an aquarium keeper, I have never seen any like that. ---
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2014, 3:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-fish-the-only-creatures-without-a-tongue/701082/11 "2014-10-12T03:38:22Z")
> [@aceplace57](#): > > Do any use it for sexual pleasure except humans? [Yup.](http://www.huffingtonpost.com/marc-bekoff/can-evolutionary-biology-_b_5169169.html) > [@](#): > > There have been observations of oral sex among nonhuman primates including baboons and bonobos. Bats too do it. In fruit-eating Indian flying foxes it’s been shown that cunnilingus as foreplay is a major part of their sexual repertoire and that it makes sex last longer. […] > > In the short-nosed fruit bat fellatio has been observed even during copulation. ---
**Author:** ![flatlined](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/eb9ed0/32.png) [@flatlined](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/flatlined)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2014, 3:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-fish-the-only-creatures-without-a-tongue/701082/12 "2014-10-12T03:44:04Z")
Does self-pleasure count…because dogs lick their balls all the time. ---
**Author:** ![jtur88](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e9c0ed/32.png) [@jtur88](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jtur88)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2014, 3:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-fish-the-only-creatures-without-a-tongue/701082/13 "2014-10-12T03:44:40Z")
I’ve eaten many pounds of cod tongues in my lifetime, it’s the best part of the fish, and the only edible part that is rejected in the fish processing industries from the North Atlantic cod fishery. That, and the cheeks, which are good, too.l. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2014, 3:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-fish-the-only-creatures-without-a-tongue/701082/14 "2014-10-12T03:53:38Z")
OK, congratulations, that picture actually got me to “eek”. There aren’t many things that can do that to me, especially not when I’m expecting them. ---
**Author:** ![callander](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ed655f/32.png) [@callander](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/callander)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2014, 4:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-fish-the-only-creatures-without-a-tongue/701082/15 "2014-10-12T04:04:40Z")
> [@aceplace57](#): > > That has to be photoshopped. It’s got human upper teeth! That’s not real? Is it? Yes I would agree the human teeth kind of give it away as photoshopped. ---
**Author:** ![njtt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ecd19e/32.png) [@njtt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/njtt)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2014, 4:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-fish-the-only-creatures-without-a-tongue/701082/16 "2014-10-12T04:05:37Z")
> [@aceplace57](#): > > This came up in a game show (they were asking about a bird). All the birds I’ve seen have tongues. Reptiles flick their tongues. Mamuals have them. > > Are there any exceptions? Do all creatures \*\*except \*\*fish have tongues? > > Do any use it for sexual pleasure except humans? What do you mean by “creature”? I think that word is most usually taken to be synonymous with “animal”, in which case, there are many, many types of animals without tongues: amoebas, worms, molluscs, insects, arachnids, jellyfish, sponges… (Some people do seem to use “animal” to mean mammal, but at least you do not seem to be making that mistake.) Originally “creature” meant any created thing (created by God), so pretty much everything that exists in reality counted as a creature. That is still listed as word’s primary meaning by [Merriam-Webster](http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/creature). In actual usage, the meaning seems later to have narrowed to just living things, and then just animals. Are you using it to mean _vertebrates_? ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2014, 4:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-fish-the-only-creatures-without-a-tongue/701082/17 "2014-10-12T04:09:21Z")
[nitpick]Amoebas aren’t animals.[/nitpick] ---
**Author:** ![njtt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ecd19e/32.png) [@njtt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/njtt)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2014, 4:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-fish-the-only-creatures-without-a-tongue/701082/18 "2014-10-12T04:16:19Z")
On the other hand, I do believe the OP is correct to believe that many types of fish do not have tongues, and, I believe, even in those that have a tongue like structure in their mouth (including the one that gets eaten by the parasite) it is not technically correct to call it a tongue. According to the Yahoo Answer at the bottom of this page, it is correctly called a _basihyal_. (Yahoo Answers generally demand to be taken with a large pinch of salt, but in this case the answerer seems to be quoting something fairly authoritative.) ---
**Author:** ![njtt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ecd19e/32.png) [@njtt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/njtt)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2014, 4:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-fish-the-only-creatures-without-a-tongue/701082/19 "2014-10-12T04:20:34Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > [nitpick]Amoebas aren’t animals.[/nitpick] On the contrary, [many amoebas are animals](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amoeba). ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2014, 4:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-fish-the-only-creatures-without-a-tongue/701082/20 "2014-10-12T04:21:06Z")
Animalia Kingdom should sum it up. Basically any animal, insect, fish, reptile etc. > **[Animalia (animals)](https://animaldiversity.org/accounts/Animalia/)** > > Read about Animalia (animals) on the Animal Diversity Web. > [@njtt](#): > > What do you mean by “creature”? I think that word is most usually taken to be synonymous with “animal”, in which case, there are many, many types of animals without tongues: amoebas, worms, molluscs, insects, arachnids, jellyfish, sponges… > > (Some people do seem to use “animal” to mean mammal, but at least you do not seem to be making that mistake.) > > Originally “creature” meant any created thing (created by God), so pretty much everything that exists in reality counted as a creature. That is still listed as word’s primary meaning by [Merriam-Webster](http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/creature). In actual usage, the meaning seems later to have narrowed to just living things, and then just animals. > > Are you using it to mean _vertebrates_? [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-fish-the-only-creatures-without-a-tongue/701082.md?page=2)