My little brother asked me this recently. I did not know the answer. For the sake of posterity, let’s assume that we are referring exclusively to organisms in the animalia family that are not microscopic.
Well, one of the ones that is microscopic surely wouldn’t be the largest.
Do squids have tongues? I’m going to guess it’s the giant squid. They’re usually listed as the largest invertebrate, and I think all vertebrates have tongues.
Starfish don’t have tongues.
Squids have a radula which is functionally the same as a tongue. I’m going to go with Coconut Crab (Birgus latro). The largest is 1 Meter (3 foot 3 inches) in width and weighs 4.1 KG (9 pounds.)
Scatch that, it’s the Sunflower Star (Pycnopodia helianthoides) which can be up to 40 inches tip to tip and weigh up to 11 pounds.
How about a Lion’s mane jellyfish? Largest recorded specimen was 120ft long.
And that gets into the question of what we mean by “largest”. I generally default to mass, but I suppose that some might be more interested in length.
I am primarily concerned with mass. But if someone posts about a particularly long tongueless creature, that is a perfectly acceptable answer as well…
Does it have to be a functional tongue (i.e. used for swallowing food or such)? Sharks have tongues, but apparently in many species, it’s just a relatively non-functional, non-movable plate of cartilage on the floor of the mouth - might as well just be the floor of the mouth.
How about a giant clam? They have tongue-like feet, but no actual tongue.
Crocodiles have a non-mobile tongue that makes them look like they don’t have one.
King Crabs can be 5 feet across and the largest confirmed one was 24 pounds.
Googling says the largest giant clams are over 500 lbs - could be a winner.
Clams got legs!?
At over 5 feet wide and over 500 pounds, I think 3AxisCtrl’s got it.
Warning: Sick humor -
Roger Ebert?
For the longest, whale tapeworms could be a contender- supposedly reported as up to 40m in length, around 130ft.
Imagine a tapeworm that long in a human.
Or imagine a human in a tapeworm that long.
Y’know the thing about a shark, he’s got… a lifeless tongue, like a doll’s tongue.
When he comes at ya, doesn’t seem to be livin’…
Until he gives you the worst French kiss ya ever had.
How about a Whale Shark afflicted with a REALLY BIG Cymothoa exigua?
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