What are these 'teeth' on my ducks tongue?

[Katakornchicks]

This is Yoshi, he's an East Indie Bantam d rake. I noticed today that he has "teeth" on the sides of his tongue. I have seen that geese have these but didn't know ducks did too! What are they called? What are they for? Just curious!

 

[Jenbirdee]

Ducks do have tongues, but they don't have any teeth on their tongues. They do have a series of sharp ridges on the edge of their beaks, which may be confused with the presence of a row of tiny sharp teeth. These specialized comb-like structures along the edge of ducks' beaks are called lamellae.

in addition to lamellae, some ducks and geese have spiky projections called papillae running down the sides of their tongues. These also help with filter-feeding.

 

[Jenbirdee]

very cute duck btw

 

[ruthhope]

Beautiful ducks!! No teeth, as @Jenbirdee explained