loaches making load clicking noise!

[b125killer]

 the sound is produced by the grinding of their pharyngeal teeth.

[Mugwump]

the sound is produced by the grinding of their pharyngeal teeth.

geez....castanets sounded better    ........thanks for the info, Scott....by the by, how did 'spell checker' like the word "pharyngeal" ? 

[b125killer]

I googled it LOL. I didn't even realize they had teeth. 

[Mugwump]

I googled it LOL. I didn't even realize they had teeth.

+1

[BallAquatics]

Yep, if it's on the Internet, Google has it indexed.  LOL

Dennis

[BillT]

Pharyngeal teeth are located in the gill rakers rather than the jaws.
I think fish use them to crunch up things already in their mouth.

The jaws develop from the first pharyngeal arch (early in development).
The gills rakers come from more posterior pharyngeal arches.
The arches form between perforations that from between the inside of the pharynx and the outside.

Here are some pictures of how the moray eel has modified this into an Alien-like second jaw for grabbing things and dragging them further into their mouth:
http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v449/n7158/images/nature06062-f4.2.jpg