Tongue by Joe Lencioni

January 25, 2007

ƒ/16.0, 1/200 s, 100 ISO

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I had never seen taste buds so closely before. It’s really cool to see all of the little red dots in there.

5 Comments

Laurent said
January 25th, 2007 at 9:31 am

Really weird :D Nice idea!
Robbie G said
January 26th, 2007 at 3:09 pm

All of the small, light pink bumps are Filiform Papillae. They cover much of the tongue and are keratinized (giving them a tough, rougher feel). In some carnivores such as cats, they are longer and point towards the back of the mouth, giving their tongue that raspy feel. They don’t have any taste buds.

The larger, rounder bumps are fungiform papillae (since they are kind of mushroom shaped). These do have taste buds, with taste pores opening at their surface.

Here’s a cross section of a tongue with multiple filiform papillae and 1 larger fungiform.
(post author) Joe Lencioni said
January 26th, 2007 at 3:28 pm

Thanks for going to vet school Rob and filling us in on all that stuff.
Beth said
January 26th, 2007 at 11:07 pm

Coooool picture! I stared at my tongue for a good 5 minutes in the mirror after seeing this.

And Rob is a nerd.
amy said
January 15th, 2008 at 3:51 pm

grosssssss!