you may have seen those sea turtles swimming leisurely (or at least on TV), but do you know the way they open their mouths?

(this is a leatherback turtle. Do you see the sharp thorns in its mouth? Photo from: museumvictoria.com.au)

this spike structure is found in the mouth, throat and esophagus of sea turtles, which makes people feel a little creepy. These horny structures are called "papillae".

of course, sea turtles don't have so many spines to scare people. These thorn-like structures are quite helpful when eating. These spikes are distributed from the mouth to the esophagus, allowing turtles to hold their prey and prevent them from escaping while draining the excess sea water they swallow. In addition, these structures can also prevent sea turtles from being stung by jellyfish.

these spiny structures extend all the way along the esophagus to the junction with the stomach. There has been an anatomical video on the Internet that clearly shows these spikes in the turtle's esophagus:

(high energy ahead)

(ready)

this is a dissected red turtle (Caretta caretta). The video is from: la_castanon. It should be noted that it was not killed by the anatomist, it was dead when it was found.

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similar to this, we have actually introduced the spikes in penguins' mouths before:

these thorns also help them swallow food better, although they may look like teeth. but in fact, both the source and composition are quite different from our teeth.

if I had to swallow fish or jellyfish for a living every day, I would really want to be full of thorns.

I hope it doesn't scare you _ (: scared "∠) _

reference:

http://www.ivis.org/advances/wyneken/12.pdf?LA=1

http://nmlc.org/2011/07/sea-turtles-part-3-leatherbacks-loggerheads-and-greens/

http://seaturtleexploration.com/inside-of-a-sea-turtles-mouth/