Pharyngeal Teeth
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<fishfyi-glossary slug="pharyngeal-teeth"></fishfyi-glossary>Definition
Teeth located in the throat (pharynx) of certain fish, especially cyprinids and cichlids, used for crushing and grinding food before it enters the stomach.
Ausführliche Erklärung
Pharyngeal teeth develop on modified gill arch bones (ceratobranchials) and articulate against a keratinized chewing pad on the basioccipital bone. Cyprinids (carp, minnows) possess only pharyngeal teeth — the jaws are toothless. Cichlids have a decoupled oral and pharyngeal jaw system: the oral jaws handle prey capture while the pharyngeal jaws, independently moveable, process food. This decoupling is a key driver of cichlid adaptive radiation — the same oral jaw design can be coupled with radically different pharyngeal jaw morphologies specialized for different prey types.