If you have ever caught a catfish and taken a look into their mouth you might be surprised to find that their mouths look pretty empty.
So, do catfish have teeth?
Yes catfish do have teeth but they are not like traditional incisors, instead, they have thousands of tiny sandpaper-like teeth that they use to grip their prey.
They tend to point inwards so that they are orientated best for gripping i.e it’s easy for something to come into the mouth but not easy for it to go out.
Do Catfish Have Teeth ?
Most large predators will have a row of teeth along the front and side of their jaw. These teeth are used to bite and cut through flesh.
A catfish however will swallow most of its food whole and has no real need to cut its prey up before swallowing. They have lots of tiny teeth that are used for gripping.
Those teeth are used to help them control and turn it’s food so that it is pointing lengthways to make it easier for them to swallow.
Being bottom feeders they will spend most of their time sifting through mud or sand smelling out their next meal this is why they have such a flat head.
Seeing as they are used to swallowing food whole you can actually use some really big catfish baits when fishing for trophy cats.
Most catfish fishing line will be monofilament so do not really need to worry about their mouths slicing through it, unlike other large predators.
Those that do a lot of noodling are well aware of just how abrasive their sandpaper-like teeth is. For the most part, they won’t hurt too much if they do grab onto your hand.
However, if they start to trash about a bit they may well end scraping a lot of skin off of your hand. The best way to combat this is to wear a pair of fishing gloves to help protect your skin.
Catfish teeth will not puncture these types of gloves so wearing them can save you a nasty scrape on your hands.