Teeth - bony formations located in the oral cavity of fish on the jaw and intermandibular bones, tongue, scutellum or pharynx (pharyngeal). Serve to grasp, hold, tear off, crush and pulverize food. They have a variety of shapes - pointed, flattened, spiky, hook-shaped. The simplest of them - conical, characteristic of most fish. The roots of the teeth are usually not. 3 Teeth are replaced during life.

Fish teeth are made up of dentin covered by a cap of enamel on top. Almost all fish teeth are replaced with new ones as they wear out. The shape of the teeth is related to the way of eating and changes with age and sex. In predatory fish, the teeth are conical in shape and point backward toward the pharynx. The grasping teeth are characterized by their extreme length. They are located on the jaws (often laterally), sometimes on the tongue. In some fish that feed on mixed food, the teeth take the form of blunt formations, adapted for crushing shells. In carps on the jaws of carp do not have teeth, but in the pharyngeal cavity are powerful pharyngeal teeth. Against them on the palate is a strong horny pad, which serves to crush food. In plankton-eating fish on the gill arches are the so-called gill stamens, which are strongly developed, very long, thin and numerous; their purpose - filtering food organisms captured in the oral cavity.