--- title: "Do Eels Have Teeth? Fangs, Crushers and Second Jaws" url: https://thesea.org/do-eels-have-teeth/ date: 2026-11-13 modified: 2026-11-13 lang: en author: "Blane Perun" description: "TheSea.Org▸Eels▸Do Eels Have Teeth? Do Eels Have Teeth? — Fangs, Crushing Plates, Bristle Teeth and a Second Set of Jaws Eels By Blane Perun November 13, 2026 9 min read..." categories: - "Eels" word_count: 1953 --- # Do Eels Have Teeth? Fangs, Crushers and Second Jaws [TheSea.Org](/)▸[Eels](/eels/)▸Do Eels Have Teeth? # Do Eels Have Teeth? — Fangs, Crushing Plates, Bristle Teeth and a Second Set of Jaws Eels By [Blane Perun](/about-blane-perun/) November 13, 2026 9 min read Do eels have teeth? Yes. All true eels have teeth, but the type depends on diet. Fish-eating morays have long, backward-curved fangs; crab-eating morays have blunt, pebble-like crushers; conger eels have tight rows that form a cutting edge; and freshwater eels have bands of tiny bristle-like teeth. Morays also have a second, toothed set of jaws in the throat. Quick facts Do eels have teeth?**Yes**, all true eels Moray teethFangs or crushing teeth, plus throat jaws Conger teethClose-set rows forming a cutting edge Freshwater eel teethSmall, bristle-like teeth in bands Larval teethLong, forward-pointing fangs, lost at metamorphosis Second jawsPharyngeal jaws, highly mobile in morays ReplacementTeeth are shed and replaced through life Electric eelSmall teeth; swallows prey whole Most people's mental picture of an eel includes teeth, usually a moray's fangs, glinting from a hole in the reef. That picture is accurate for some morays, but eel teeth are far more varied than that. Some eels have needle fangs, some have flat crushers like molars, some have hundreds of tiny bristles, and morays have a whole extra set of jaws hidden in their throats. Even baby eels have fangs. Here's a tour of the eel mouth, group by group. Moray eel teeth: fangs for holding fish Long, sharp and angled backward so prey can only go one way. Fish-eating morays such as the giant moray and the green moray have long, slender, sharply pointed teeth in the upper and lower jaws, and more on the roof of the mouth. The teeth are angled backward toward the throat. When a moray grabs a slippery fish, the prey can only move one way: deeper into the mouth. Some morays have particularly long fangs at the front of the upper jaw and on the midline of the roof of the mouth, and in some species the long teeth can fold backward, which helps prey slide in while blocking its escape. Those same backward-angled teeth are what make moray bites so damaging. When someone pulls a hand away from a biting moray, the teeth rake through the tissue instead of sliding out. That's covered in our page on [eel bites](/eel-bites/). The skull that supports these teeth is described on our [moray eel skull](/moray-eel-skull/) page. ![Moray eel with mouth wide open showing long curved fangs, proof that eels have teeth](https://thesea.org/wp-content/uploads/do-eels-have-teeth-1-thesea-org-by-blane-perun.webp)Moray eel with mouth wide open showing long curved fangs, proof that eels have teeth The second jaw: moray pharyngeal jaws A toothed set of jaws that launches from the throat. Every bony fish has pharyngeal jaws, a second set of toothed bones in the throat that help process and swallow food. In most fish they stay put in the throat. In morays they're unusually long and mobile. When a moray has a fish gripped in its front teeth, muscles pull the pharyngeal jaws forward into the mouth. Their teeth bite into the prey and haul it back into the throat, then the front jaws grab further along and the cycle repeats. Rita Mehta and Peter Wainwright documented this with high-speed video and X-rays, publishing in *Nature* in 2007, and morays remain the only animals known to use their throat jaws to actively seize and drag prey in this way. Why did morays evolve it? Most fish swallow by expanding the mouth and sucking prey in, which needs room. A moray hunting in a narrow crevice can't do that easily, so it evolved a mechanical way to move food down instead. The same system lets morays tackle surprisingly large prey. 2Sets of toothed jaws in a moray 2007Year moray "second jaws" were filmed in action 0Teeth left in a fully mature, spawning conger Crushing teeth: morays that eat crabs Not every moray has fangs. Some morays specialise in hard-shelled prey such as crabs, shrimp and snails, and their teeth look nothing like fangs. The [zebra moray](/zebra-moray-eel/) (*Gymnomuraena zebra*) has rows of blunt, rounded, pebble-like teeth that form crushing pavements in the jaws and on the roof of the mouth. The snowflake moray (*Echidna nebulosa*) has similar blunt teeth. These morays grind through shells that would break the needle teeth of a fish-eater. It's a good example of how closely eel teeth match diet, and you can read more about diets in [what eels eat](/what-do-eels-eat/). Conger eel teeth A tight row that works like a blade. Conger eels have strong jaws with teeth set close together in rows along the jaw edges, so they form a continuous cutting edge rather than separate fangs. Congers don't have the long canines of morays. They have thick lips and a slight overbite, and they eat fish, crabs, octopus and cuttlefish, biting and tearing rather than impaling. A big conger's bite is powerful, and wreck divers and anglers treat them with respect. Congers have one of the strangest dental stories of any eel. As a conger matures for its single spawning, its body changes dramatically: it stops feeding, its skeleton loses minerals and its teeth fall out. A fully mature conger heading to spawn has no teeth at all, because it will never eat again. More on our [conger eel](/conger-eel-congridae/) page. Freshwater eel teeth Small, sharp bristles in bands. Freshwater eels of the genus *Anguilla*, including the American and European eels, have many small, pointed teeth arranged in bands on the jaws and on the roof of the mouth. They're sometimes described as villiform, meaning bristle- or velvet-like. They grip worms, crayfish, insects and small fish well, but they're too small to cause much more than scratches if an eel bites a hand. Some freshwater eels develop broader heads and larger mouths than others of the same species, and research suggests broad-headed eels tend to take larger, harder prey, while narrow-headed eels eat smaller, softer food. ![Leptocephalus eel larva with needle-like teeth, showing baby eels have teeth too](https://thesea.org/wp-content/uploads/do-eels-have-teeth-2-thesea-org-by-blane-perun.webp)Leptocephalus eel larva with needle-like teeth, showing baby eels have teeth too Baby eels have fangs too Leptocephalus larvae carry long, forward-pointing teeth. Eel larvae, called leptocephali, are flat, transparent and leaf-shaped, and many have a set of long, sharp teeth that point forward out of the mouth. Those teeth seem out of place on an animal that feeds mainly on marine snow, the soft particles of organic debris drifting through the ocean, and their exact purpose is still debated. They may help larvae grab or handle particles. Either way, the larval teeth are lost when the leptocephalus metamorphoses into a glass eel, and the young eel grows a new set suited to its adult diet. The stages are explained in our [eel life cycle](/eel-life-cycle/) guide. | Eel | Tooth type | What it's for | | --- | ---------- | ------------- | | Fish-eating morays | Long, backward-curved fangs | Holding slippery fish | | Crab-eating morays | Blunt, pebble-like crushers | Breaking shells | | All morays | Toothed, mobile pharyngeal jaws | Dragging prey down the throat | | Conger eels | Close-set rows forming an edge | Biting and tearing | | Freshwater eels | Bands of small, bristle-like teeth | Gripping small prey | | Garden eels | Small teeth | Picking plankton | | Leptocephalus larvae | Long, forward-pointing fangs | Debated; lost at metamorphosis | Do eels lose and replace their teeth? Yes, like most fish. Fish generally replace their teeth throughout life, and eels are no exception. Worn or broken teeth are shed and new ones grow in from beneath. That's one reason moray teeth sometimes break off in a bite wound without leaving the eel toothless. It's also why the jaws of preserved morays often show teeth of different sizes and stages side by side. Watching eel teeth safely The best view of a moray's teeth is from a respectful distance. Morays spend much of the day with their mouths open, pumping water over their gills, so divers get a good look at their teeth without doing anything at all. Cleaning stations are even better: cleaner shrimp and cleaner wrasse often work inside a moray's open mouth, picking food scraps and parasites from between the teeth. Cleaning stations are worth looking for on any of the reefs in my [dive trip guides](/dive-trips/), from Key Largo to the Red Sea. Stay still, keep your hands to yourself, and you'll get a closer look at eel teeth than you'd ever want from the business end. Eel teeth vs snake fangs They look similar, but they work very differently. Because eels and snakes share a body shape, people often assume their teeth are alike. They're not. Venomous snakes have specialised fangs connected to venom glands, either grooved or hollow like a hypodermic needle, that inject venom into prey. No true eel has anything like that. Moray fangs are solid teeth designed to grip, and while the mucus of some morays contains irritating compounds, no venom-delivery system has been found in eels. A moray bite is dangerous because of tissue damage and bacteria, not venom. Snakes also can't chew and swallow prey whole using flexible jaw joints, while morays use their mobile throat jaws to do the same job. Our page on [whether eels are related to snakes](/are-eels-related-to-snakes/) explains how the two groups ended up looking so alike. Teeth of animals called eels that aren't eels The "eels" outside the true eel order have their own kinds of teeth. The [wolf eel](/wolf-eel/), a wolffish, has big conical canines at the front of the jaws and broad, molar-like grinders behind, perfect for crushing sea urchins and crabs. Lampreys, sometimes called lamprey eels, have no jaws at all. Instead they have a round sucking disc lined with rows of horny teeth and a rasping tongue, which parasitic species use to attach to fish and feed on their blood and tissue; see [lamprey eels](/lamprey-eel/). The [electric eel](/electric-eel/) has small teeth and relies on electric shocks to subdue prey, then swallows it whole. The [rice field eel](/rice-field-eel/) has small teeth suited to grabbing small fish, crustaceans and worms. So if someone asks whether eels have teeth, the honest answer is "yes, and which eel?" From a moray's fangs to a conger that loses every tooth before spawning, eel mouths tell you a lot about how each animal lives. ![Zebra moray peeking from a reef, a crab eater whose blunt crushers show eels have teeth of many kinds](https://thesea.org/wp-content/uploads/do-eels-have-teeth-3-thesea-org-by-blane-perun.webp)Zebra moray peeking from a reef, a crab eater whose blunt crushers show eels have teeth of many kinds Frequently asked questions Do eels have teeth? Yes. All true eels have teeth, ranging from moray fangs to the tiny bristle teeth of freshwater eels. Do eels have two sets of jaws? All bony fish have throat (pharyngeal) jaws, but morays are special: theirs shoot forward into the mouth to grab prey and drag it down. What do conger eel teeth look like? Close-set rows along the jaws that form a cutting edge, without long fangs. Mature congers lose their teeth before spawning. Are eel teeth sharp? Moray and conger teeth are sharp and can cause deep wounds. Freshwater eel teeth are small and cause minor scratches. Do eels lose their teeth? They shed and replace teeth throughout life. Eel larvae lose their fangs at metamorphosis, and congers lose all teeth before spawning. Do electric eels have teeth? They have small teeth but don't bite prey apart. They stun prey with electricity and swallow it whole. Sources & further reading - Mehta, R. S. & Wainwright, P. C. (2007). Raptorial jaws in the throat help moray eels swallow large prey. *Nature* 449: 79–82. - Mehta, R. S. (2009). Ecomorphology of the moray bite: relationship between dietary extremes and morphological diversity. *Physiological and Biochemical Zoology* 82: 90–103. - Froese, R. & Pauly, D. (eds.). FishBase: *Conger conger*, *Gymnomuraena zebra*. - Tesch, F.-W. (2003). *The Eel*, 3rd ed. Blackwell. Continue reading More from Eels [EelsMoray Eel SkullTwo sets of jaws and crushing plates. ](/moray-eel-skull/) [EelsEel SkeletonHow the bones are built. ](/eel-skeleton/) [EelsEel AnatomyGills, fins, slime and organs. ](/eel-anatomy/) BP Last updated November 13, 2026 Written by Blane Perun Blane Perun has been exploring Earth’s oceans and marine life for over 25 years. Founder of TheSea.Org in 1999, underwater photographer, coral aquaculture pioneer, and explorer of 80+ countries. [About Blane Perun →](/about-blane-perun/) [More on Eels →](/eels/)