Betta girl giving me the tongue!!

[nochoramet]

LOL this thread. Bettas do not have tongues or anything to stick out. I've seen the inside of several bettas mouths that "talk" to me and they definitely have nothing there.

[bettalover2033]

Well I dont think they have "tongues." But this does sound pretty cute! I kind of laughed at first as well, when I heard tongue. lol

[bahamut285]

Originally Posted by MissCarlyRenee

After much googling, I have now learned that while fish do not have true "tongues," but many have a tongue-like feature in their mouth known as basihyals.

Basihyals are pieces of cartilage. Tongues are muscles.

It's only attributed as a tongue because it is in their mouth. Sharks for example have enormous basihyals which is the huge cartilage that attaches to their jaw. They do not perform the same function, nor are made of the same material.

[nochoramet]

I have seen my fish "kiss" the glass at me though so maybe that's what your seeing? It's pretty cute when they do it <3

[jfw]

Personally I have never seen my bettas tongue, but I think it would be very hard to see because of the glass and water in between not to mention the fleeting amount of time the mouth was open to see. I fish quite a bit so I've dealt with allot of fish mouths, and judging from catfish I could easily see if the betta's was similar at all how someone could construe it as a tongue.