Do Fish Have Teeth? Which Fish Bite, and Which You Can Lip

Open mouth of a northern pike held by an angler: long canines along the lower jaw and the pale roof of the mouth — Photo: U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Mountain-Prairie Region (public domain)

Key takeaways

Almost every fish has teeth. They began as scales, are enamel, dentine and pulp like yours, and grow back for life. Carp chew with throat teeth; adult paddlefish have none.
Pike and muskie carry a row on the lower jaw plus three bands on the roof of the mouth. Walleye have long canines. A sheepshead has human-looking incisors and molars for shells.
Pike do not lose their teeth in summer. Michigan biologists found normal gums in 1935; Wisconsin DNR's Max Wolter says teeth are replaced one at a time, never as a batch.
Lip a bass, never a walleye, pike or muskie. X-rays of held bass found no broken jaws, but an exaggerated vertical hold popped one big fish's jaw: go horizontal or straight down.
For pike and muskie run 18 in (46 cm) of 50–80 lb fluorocarbon, or wire or titanium where bite-offs happen. Unhook them with jaw spreaders and long pliers, not fingers.

Almost every fish has teeth, and most keep growing new ones for their whole life. A bass has rough patches like sandpaper. A pike has hundreds of needles, along the lower jaw and across the roof of its mouth. A carp has no teeth in its mouth at all, but chews with a set hidden in its throat.

A sheepshead has incisors like a person’s at the front, three rows of molars in the top of its mouth and two in the bottom. It uses them to crunch crabs, clams and oysters.

What are fish teeth made of?

Fish teeth are built like yours: hard enamel outside, dentine under it, soft pulp in the middle. Scientists believe they began as scales near the mouth. Over millions of years those scales hardened, sharpened and moved inside. A shark’s sandpaper skin is still made of tiny tooth-like points.

The big difference is that a fish is never done growing teeth. You get two sets, and a fish grows replacements for life. When a tooth breaks or drops out, a new one is already forming behind it. Look into a big pike’s mouth and you will see long and short teeth side by side. The short ones are new.

Do all fish have teeth?

Nearly all, but not always where you would look. Carp, goldfish and minnows have no teeth in their jaws. Instead they carry one to three rows of pharyngeal teeth, which means throat teeth, far back behind the gills; even a two-inch minnow has them. Those grind food against a hard bony plate at the base of the skull. A common carp has ten of them. The freshwater drum has rounded, molar-like throat teeth that crush clams and mussels. So does the redear sunfish, the shellcracker, on snails.

Paddlefish, the long-nosed giant of the Mississippi, have no teeth at all as adults. They swim with the mouth open and strain plankton.

Catfish do have teeth, but you will never feel a point. Their mouth is lined with pads of tiny bristles, more like a scrub brush than a bite. That is why a catfish can be held by the lower jaw once you know the grip (how to hold a catfish).

Which fish have the scariest teeth?

Northern pike and muskie carry a row of large teeth along the lower jaw, plus three bands of smaller teeth on the roof of the mouth that point backward.
Walleye have long, strong canines. No walleye angler puts a thumb in that mouth.
Gar have long, narrow jaws packed with rows of needle-fine teeth.
Piranha have triangular, razor-edged teeth that interlock like scissors.
Sheepshead, of the Atlantic and Gulf coasts, have the human-looking incisors and molars from the quote above.
Parrotfish have teeth fused into a beak that scrapes algae off coral. What comes out the other end is sand.

What types of teeth do fish have, and where are they?

Fish teeth sort by job, and a fish can carry them in five places: the lips, the upper and lower jaws, the roof of the mouth, the tongue and the throat. A pike carries teeth in four of them: the jaws, the roof of the mouth, the tongue and the throat.

Tooth type	What it does	Where it sits	Example fish
Canine	Long cone that pierces and holds	Along the jaws	Pike (lower jaw), walleye, bowfin
Cardiform patch	Short, dense teeth that grip	Jaws and the roof of the mouth	Pike roof bands, largemouth bass, flathead catfish
Villiform	Fine, elongated teeth in rows	Jaws	Gar
Incisor	Cuts and nips	Front of the jaws	Sheepshead, triggerfish
Molar	Flat, crushes shells	Jaws, tongue bones or throat	Sheepshead, freshwater drum
Beak	Teeth fused into one plate that scrapes	The whole jaw	Parrotfish, pufferfish
Pharyngeal	Grinds or shreds	Throat, on the gill arches	Carp, grass carp, redhorse, redear sunfish

Do pike lose their teeth in summer?

No. The story goes that pike shed their teeth in August, get sore gums and stop biting. Biologists have checked. In 1935 the Michigan Institute for Fisheries Research examined pike through the summer for Research Report 310 and found normal, healthy gums and no seasonal shedding. In 2023 Max Wolter, a Wisconsin DNR fish biologist, wrote the same in Outdoor News: individual teeth break or wear and are replaced one at a time, never as a batch.

The August lull is real, but it comes from warm water and easy food. Fish rest more in the heat (do fish sleep explains how), and a pike with a full stomach ignores a lure.

Which fish can you hold by the lip?

Bass. Largemouth, smallmouth and spotted bass have no pointed teeth, only rough patches on the jaw. That makes them the fish for lipping, a grip on the lower jaw between thumb and forefinger. Hold enough of them in a day and your thumb turns red and raw: “bass thumb”, worn as a badge.

In the Bardin radiograph study, bass of 2 to 6 lb were X-rayed while held in four positions, from horizontal with a second hand to hanging by the jaw. No hold broke a bone. The one injury came in the biggest fish, held vertically with its whole weight forced down on the lower jaw: the jaw popped, and the joint was loose afterward. Hold a bass horizontal with your second hand under the belly, or straight down by the lip with the body hanging in line with the jaw. Never bend the body out from the lip.

Never lip a walleye, a pike or a muskie. The walleye’s canines and sharp gill plates open a thumb. The pike’s roof bands cut deeper the more the fish shakes.

Can you lip it, and does it need a leader?

Teeth decide two things at the water: whether your thumb is safe in a fish’s mouth, and whether your line needs a leader in front of the lure.

Fish	Teeth	Lip it?	Leader for teeth
Largemouth bass	Sandpaper patches, no points	Yes, horizontal or straight down	None needed
Smallmouth bass	Same rough patches	Yes, same two holds	None needed
Walleye	Long canines, sharp gill plates	Never	Not needed for teeth
Northern pike	Lower-jaw row plus three roof bands	Never	18 in (46 cm) of 50–80 lb fluorocarbon, or wire
Muskie	Same as pike, larger	Never	Wire or titanium where bite-offs happen; 50–80 lb fluorocarbon otherwise
Channel catfish	Bristle pads, no points	Lower jaw only, wide grip	None needed
Common carp	None in the jaw; ten throat teeth	No points, but cradle it horizontal	None needed
Gar	Rows of fine needles in a long snout	Never	Wire or heavy fluorocarbon
Sheepshead	Incisors plus molar rows	Never; those jaws crush shell	Not needed for teeth
Paddlefish	None as an adult	Not by the mouth; support the body	None needed

What leader do toothy fish need?

A pike’s teeth cut easily through monofilament line. Northern Ontario Travel’s guide to pike and musky leaders puts about 18 in (46 cm) of 50–80 lb fluorocarbon between the main line and the lure. For jig fishing and other presentations where bite-offs happen, it recommends titanium or single-strand wire. Minnesota DNR still advises a steel leader for larger pike. The fluorocarbon line guide explains why the heavy stuff resists abrasion. For bass, catfish and carp, use a leader for stealth or rocks, never for teeth.

How do you unhook a pike, muskie or walleye?

A pike’s roof bands point backward and cut deeper the more the fish shakes, so the hook comes out with tools, not fingers. Whether the hooked fish feels it is a separate question, answered in do fish feel pain.

Keep the fish in the net and in the water. A big rubber net is your third hand while you get the tools out.
Take the grip away from the mouth. For pike and muskie, hold the fish firmly behind the head and work with long-nosed pliers; Minnesota DNR’s rule is never to put your fingers in the gills. For walleye, hold across the back behind the head, other hand under the belly.
Open the mouth with jaw spreaders. Set them lightly; too wide strains the jaw joint.
Reach in with long-nose pliers or a hook-out, never fingers. Grip the hook by the bend and push it back the way it went in.
Cut the hook if it is deep. A bolt cutter through the shank does less harm than a two-minute struggle.
Release the fish horizontal, in the water, and hold it until it kicks. The catch and release guide has the full drill.

More answers to the questions kids ask at the water, from sleeping to breathing, are in fish facts.

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