Salamander’s Cartilage Is Key to its Tongue-Expelling Skill

Although most salamanders flick their tongues out to catch insects, researchers from UC Berkeley have discovered one that shoots its tongue out in much the same way that a human shoots a watermelon seed by squeezing it between two fingers. Biologists Stephen M. Deban and David B. Wake report in Nature that the 2 1/2-inch-long lungless salamander from Sardinia can shoot its tongue out two full inches.

The lungless salamander, which breathes through its skin, has tongue cartilage shaped like a pair of tweezers, with the two prongs facing the tail. When fully retracted, the cartilage nestles in a spiraling sheath of muscle fibers. When they contract, they squeeze the prongs and shoot the cartilage--and the tongue--out of the mouth.