Do Fish Have Teeth? Which Fish Bite, Which You Can Lip, and When You Need a Leader

Do fish have teeth? Yes, almost every fish does, 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. Below: which fish bite hardest, which ones you can hold by the lip, and when your line needs a leader.

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 (Discover, 2023). It uses them to crunch crabs, clams and oysters.

Do fish have teeth? Yes, and they started out as scales

Fish teeth are built like yours: hard enamel outside, dentine under it, soft pulp in the middle (Missouri Department of Conservation, 1998). 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; 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. Those grind food against a hard bony plate at the base of the skull (Burke Museum). A common carp has ten of them. The freshwater drum has rounded, molar-like throat teeth that crush clams and mussels (Ohio State University, 2016).

Paddlefish, the long-nosed giant of the Mississippi, have no teeth at all as adults; they swim 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 (Missouri Department of Conservation).
• Walleye have long, strong canines (Iowa DNR). 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 (Australian Museum). What comes out the other end is sand.

Florida Museum sorts fish teeth by job: canines for holding, incisors for nipping, molars for crushing, and villiform patches, the fine bristles, for gripping.

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 Don Pereira of the Minnesota DNR told Outdoor News the same: pike lose and replace teeth one at a time, all year, never as a set.

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. 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, reported by Wired2Fish and Westernbass, bass were X-rayed after being held in the usual ways. No hold produced a fracture. The one injury came in the biggest fish, held in an exaggerated vertical position with the body angled out and the jaw bent back like a hinge: its jaw popped. 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.

Which fish you can lip, and when you need a leader

Leaders for toothy fish

A pike’s roof bands close on the line during the fight, and light monofilament parts on the first head shake. Guides in northern Ontario run about 18 in (46 cm) of 50–80 lb fluorocarbon between the main line and the lure, and switch to single-strand wire or titanium on waters where bite-offs are common (Northern Ontario Travel). The fishing leader guide covers knots and lengths, and fluorocarbon line explains why the heavy stuff resists abrasion. For bass, catfish and carp, use a leader for stealth or rocks, never for teeth.

How to unhook a pike, muskie or walleye

1. Keep the fish in the net and in the water. A big rubber net is your third hand while you get the tools out.
2. Take the grip away from the mouth. For pike and muskie, slide your fingers flat under the gill cover, away from the red gills, thumb outside. For walleye, hold across the back behind the head, other hand under the belly.
3. Open the mouth with jaw spreaders. Set them lightly; too wide strains the jaw joint.
4. 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.
5. Cut the hook if it is deep. A bolt cutter through the shank does less harm than a two-minute struggle.
6. 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.