Yes — But Not a Useful One
Sharks do have a tongue — but it is nothing like a mammalian tongue. The shark tongue is called the basihyal — a small, thick, largely immobile structure made of cartilage that sits on the floor of the mouth. Unlike the flexible, muscular tongues of mammals that manipulate food, taste, and assist with swallowing, the shark’s basihyal barely moves and appears to serve minimal function in most species.
What the Basihyal Does
The basihyal’s primary suspected function varies by species. In carpet sharks and wobbegongs, the basihyal may help move prey toward the throat during suction feeding. In cookie-cutter sharks, it may assist in cutting plugs of flesh from larger animals. In most open-water sharks — great whites, tigers, makos — the basihyal appears largely vestigial, doing little that the jaws and throat cannot accomplish without it.
What Sharks Use Instead of Taste
Sharks do not rely on a tongue for taste the way mammals do. Their primary chemical sense is olfaction — smell. Sharks can detect blood and other chemicals in the water at concentrations as low as one part per billion, using olfactory organs in the nasal cavity that have no connection to their mouth at all. Some taste receptors exist in the mouth lining and throat, but these are secondary sensory organs compared to the shark’s extraordinary nose.
The lateral line — a sensory system running along the body that detects pressure waves and vibrations in the water — and the ampullae of Lorenzini (electroreceptors) in the snout are also far more important to hunting than anything in the mouth.
FAQs
Can sharks taste their food?
Yes — sharks have taste buds in their mouths and throats. This is thought to explain why great whites often release humans after a single bite: they taste that humans are not their preferred prey (marine mammals with thick blubber layers).
Do all sharks have a basihyal?
Most shark species have a basihyal, though its size and mobility varies considerably. Rays, also cartilaginous fish, have a more developed hyoid apparatus.