some fish have smaller fish parasites that basically take over their tongues! fish are fuckin weird!

some fish have smaller fish parasites that basically take over their tongues! fish are fuckin weird!
Sometimes they do, and sometimes they have a parasite that has eaten said tongue and taken on the same role as the tongue while slowly feeding on said fish
Seconding the fact that they do! I admittedly don't know if all fish have tongues, but the ones I've worked with in a lab setting definitely do.
Bonus fun fact - sheepshead fish have human-like teeth. They're barnacle and oyster eaters, so they have incisor-shaped teeth which they use to scrape encrusting creatures off of hard surfaces. The rest of their mouth is full of bony plate-like teeth to crush the food, so it's really only the front teeth that look human. But boy howdy it's kind of baffling to look at a fish with recognizable mouth anatomy.