Unlike oral jaws connected by a bone joint, these pharyngeal jaws were suspended in muscle, offering them a wide range of motion to turn, tug, and tear on food.
California Sheephead use pointed teeth from their oral jaws to pry urchins off rocks before crushing their spiny exteriors in strong pharyngeal jaws that have fused with the bones of their skulls.
Pharyngeal phase, in which the movements of the soft palate, larynx and epiglottis separate the air passage from the food passage so that food and drink are not aspirated into the nose or trachea.
The different moving parts are known as articulators, and the main ones are the tongue, upper lip, lower lip, upper teeth, alveolar ridge, hard palate, soft palate, uvula, the pharyngeal wall, and the glottis.
But depending on what that prey is, a fish might want sharp pharyngeal teeth to tear through tissue, flat pharyngeal molars to grind plant matter, or a powerful pharyngeal bite to crush shelled prey.