History Main / LampreyMouth

* The sand worms in both ''Film/Dune1984'' and ''Film/Dune2021''-''Film/DunePartTwo'' are depicted this way. The 1984 one has pedipalps parting to reveal a ring-shaped, saw-toothed maw, and that example has influenced most of the following SandWorm designs. The latter removed the pedipalps, because the director wanted symbolism that "when you look into a worm's mouth, it looks like an eye. It has this feeling of the presence of a god.".

We've all seen a lamprey mouth before: a ring- or funnel-shaped mouth with many sharp, inward-pointing teeth. Rather than being embedded in horizontal ([[VaginaDentata or vertical]]) jaws, teeth completely encircle the oral cavity. Extreme examples may occur [[Series/StrangerThings in conjunction]] with FlowerMouth. In fiction, this feature is often a trait of monstrous characters, and may offer a convenient visual shorthand implying that a creature is a parasite of some kind. In both, it's almost always used as in the form of BodyHorror, whether intentional or not.

We've all seen a lamprey mouth before: a ring- or funnel-shaped mouth with many sharp, inward-pointing teeth. Rather than being embedded in horizontal ([[VaginaDentata or vertical]]) jaws, teeth completely encircle the oral cavity. Extreme examples may occur [[Series/StrangerThings in conjunction]] with FlowerMouth. In fiction, this feature is often a trait of monstrous characters, and may offer a convenient visual shorthand implying that a creature is a parasite of some kind. In both, it's almost always used as a form of BodyHorror when it ''is'' used, whether intentional or not.

We've all seen a lamprey mouth before: a ring- or funnel-shaped mouth with many sharp, inward-pointing teeth. Rather than being embedded in horizontal ([[VaginaDentata or vertical]]) jaws, teeth completely encircle the oral cavity. Extreme examples may occur [[Series/StrangerThings in conjunction]] with FlowerMouth. In fiction, this feature is often a trait of monstrous characters, and may offer a convenient visual shorthand implying that a creature is a parasite of some kind. In both, it's almost always used as a form of BodyHorror, whether intentional or not.

We've all seen a lamprey mouth before: a ring- or funnel-shaped mouth with many sharp, inward-pointing teeth. Rather than being embedded in horizontal ([[VaginaDentata or vertical]]) jaws, teeth completely encircle the oral cavity. Extreme examples may occur [[Series/StrangerThings in conjunction]] with FlowerMouth. In fiction, this feature is often a trait of monstrous characters, and may offer a convenient visual shorthand implying that a creature is a parasite of some kind.

* ''Webcomic/GunnerkriggCourt'': While trying to assist the ghost of a young boy to pass over to the next world, Antimony encounters a creature with one of [[http://www.gunnerkrigg.com/?p=347 these.]] And it grows much [[http://www.gunnerkrigg.com/?p=349 bigger.]]

** The Mynocks in ''Film/TheEmpireStrikesBack'' used these to attach to ships.

* A couple of creatures from ''Film/{{Evolution}}'' (a carnivorous "tree" and a large green bug) have mouths like this.

* In ''WesternAnimation/HowToTrainYourDragon'' and the TV spinoff, the Whispering Death is a breed of dragon with this kind of mouth.

* The sand worms in both ''Film/Dune1984'' and ''Film/Dune2021'' are depicted this way. The 1984 one has pedipalps parting to reveal a ring-shaped, saw-toothed maw, and that example has influenced most of the following SandWorm designs. The latter removed the pedipalps, because the director wanted symbolism that "when you look into a worm's mouth, it looks like an eye. It has this feeling of the presence of a god."

A common feature of {{Sand Worm}}s or an AntLionMonster, and an occasional {{Cthulhumanoid}} may sport one. Does not cover insect-like mandibles.

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* The [=USBM=] from ''Manga/BioMeatNectar''.

* ''Manga/Oddman11'': Seigi is a HumanoidAbomination who looks like a middle school-aged girl but can turn into a monstrous form for attacking people. At one point she's depicted with a lamprey-like maw that takes up most of her face.

* ''Skull Island: The Birth of Kong'': In this Franchise/MonsterVerse graphic novel, the [[Characters/MonsterVerseSkullIslandKaijuAndOtherCreatures Swamp Locust]]'s mouth is just a fang-studded giant ringlet with more sharp teeth inside the maw, including phosphate incisors.

* Franchise/{{Superman}} villain Parasite has a mouth like this in some [[DependingOnTheArtist depictions]].

* ''ComicStrip/{{Dilbert}}'' on at least two occasions. First there was a coworker named Floyd Remora who attached himself to Dilbert's back and fed off his success. The PointyHairedBoss briefly hired a sycophant with a deformed lamprey-like mouth.

* ''Film/TenCloverfieldLane'': [[spoiler: The aliens revealed at the very end of the film are, [[AmbiguousEnding or just use for hunting]], large, scaly dog-like creatures with these instead of heads.]]
* The Reapers from ''Film/BladeII'' film double up on this trope, having one set of lamprey mouth teeth on their tongues and another set surrounding them.
* In ''Film/TheCabinInTheWoods'' [[spoiler: The Ballerina Dentata / Sugar Plum Fairy's entire face is one of these]].

* In ''Film/{{Dreamcatcher}}'', the worm-creatures' mouths resemble a lamprey's that's been folded VaginaDentata-style. [[spoiler: As do the controlling aliens' entire upper bodies.]]
* The sand worms in [[Film/Dune1984 both]] [[Film/Dune2021 adaptations]] of ''Literature/{{Dune}}'' are depicted this way. The 1984 one has pedipalps parting to reveal a ring-shaped, saw-toothed maw, and that example has influenced most of the following SandWorm designs. The latter removed the pedipalps, because the director wanted symbolism that "when you look into a worm's mouth, it looks like an eye. It has this feeling of the presence of a god."

* The mechanical shark from ''Film/JamesAndTheGiantPeach'' would count.
* The ''Carnictus'' worms from ''Film/KingKong2005'' [[spoiler:that eat the cook]] had mouths like this.
* Jeff, the subway worm from ''Film/MenInBlackII''.

* Taxxons from ''Literature/{{Animorphs}}'' have these.
* Sandworms from Frank Herbert's ''Franchise/{{Dune}}'' series have massive ones, arranged in three large "jaws" that can open wide to swallow entire Spice Harvesters.
** Pieces of their teeth are used as blades by the Fremen, who call them crysknives.
* Creator/DavidDrake's ''Literature/TheLordOfTheIsles'' features one of these at one point. It's a magical creation made entirely of wood.
* In ''[[Literature/PerdidoStreetStation Iron Council]]'', the many-armed creature that menaces Hiddentown has a lamprey mouth on the end of each tentacle.
** In the previous novel ''The Scar'', the magical statuette used by [[spoiler: Silas Fennec]] has a lamprey mouth.
* The Chtorran worms in ''Literature/TheWarAgainstTheChtorr''. Their teeth encircle their mouth, curving inwards to draw the prey into their body. Once they've taken a bite, they can't stop or they'll choke to death.
* In ''[[Literature/GarrettPI Petty Pewter Gods]]'', one of the trio of double-ugly thugs in the Godoroth pantheon has a mouth like this.
* ''Literature/TheEdgeChronicles'' has [[http://fc01.deviantart.net/fs71/i/2011/224/1/8/edge__logworm_by_ladynazgul_1912-d46a806.jpg logworms.]]

* Round mouths are the norm for animal life on Longtunnel, a cave-dominated world from the Literature/HumanxCommonwealth 'Verse. Naturally, that means that most of its predators have a Lamprey Mouth, although spore-feeders and some insectivores avert this by having no teeth.
* Chaugnar Faughn, one of Frank Belknap Long's contributions to the Literature/CthulhuMythos, has an elephant's trunk that ends in one of these.
* ''Literature/{{Deeplight}}'': [[spoiler:Post-transformation Jelt's]] secondary mouth is conical, lined with many rows of teeth, and lunges out to grab prey.

* ''[[Series/BlakesSeven Blake's 7]]'': The worm-like giant predatory creatures on Terminal which Vila referred to figuratively as "snakes" had mouths like this.
* The Hellbugs from ''Series/{{Defiance}}''.
* [[spoiler: Mr. Sweet]] from ''Series/DoctorWho'' episode "The Crimson Horror". Also true of the Mire from "The Girl Who Died".
* ''Series/{{Earth 2}}'': The Terrians had this trait, too.
* The Lebensaugers from ''Series/{{Grimm}}''.
* The giant pre-Cambrian worms from ''Series/{{Primeval}}'' had this sort of mouth, most apparent when one's head is pinned under a photocopier's plate and a bunch of copies of its maw are printed out.
* The [[http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v349/DocDoom777/Entertainment/STTOS-SaltVampire.jpg Salt Vampire]] in the ''Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries'' episode "The Man Trap" has one of these.
** ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration'' and other modern ''Trek'' series have the Nausicaans, who have appeared in every series except the original series and were inspired by ''Franchise/{{Predator}}''. Their mouth-structures are a slightly more humanoid version of this trope.
** ''Series/StarTrekVoyager'' episode "Nemesis" featured the very similar-looking but even more pronounced example in the Kradin.
* On ''Series/StrangerThings'', the mouth of a Demogorgon has both an inner tooth-ringed gullet and five encircling petal-like flaps lined with teeth that can close over it. The Demogods also have this.
* ''Series/{{Supernatural}}'': In "The Kids are Alright" (3x02), the [[Characters/SupernaturalMonstersAndSupernaturalBeings Changelings]], creatures who impersonate stolen children and feed on the human mother's blood at night, have this kind of mouth in their true form for feeding.

* The action figure of Mantenna from ''Franchise/MastersOfTheUniverse''. The original toy had a lamprey mouth, although for the cartoons Mantenna was given a watered down, more goofy and less menacing look.

* Japanese horror game Gloomy Room features a monster with (among [[BodyHorror other surreal biological deviations]]) one of these in the bathroom at the beginning of the game. It only appears if the player takes too long to complete the puzzle to escape the room, in a scene that [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TU0JHyYhtSE&t=9m10s plays along]] ''[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CB5h6MUAv9c&t=3m23s beautifully]]'' with MirrorScare.
** The monster in question? [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M52hiNngHyk&t=5m55s A stock Unity asset.]]
* Land worms, recurring monsters from the ''Franchise/FinalFantasy'' series, have this.
* The Franchise/{{Pokemon}} evolution line Tynamo, Eelektrik and Eelektross. While Tynamo looks like a leech, its evolutions Eelektrik and Eelektross resemble lampreys and they mainly attack by discharging electricity while attaching to their victim with their lamprey mouth.
* ''VideoGame/{{Spore}}'' has the "Leeyotch", "Gnathognasher" and "Saginaughty" mouth parts which vaguely resemble the mouths of lampreys and other animals with radial, jawless mouths.

** The Grave Digger, a huge, mutated worm from ''VideoGame/{{Resident Evil 3|Nemesis}}'', has a mouth like this, along with four giant teeth jutting out along the edges of its maw.

** [[DemonicSpider The Rasklapanje]] from ''VideoGame/ResidentEvil6''. Not only does it feed by biting onto a person's face and sucking blood, but it also gives them a FaceFullOfAlienWingWong in the process.
* Dead Lander α and the Devourer from ''VideoGame/BugFables'' can be found sporting lamprey like mouths.
* Deepstalkers from ''VideoGame/DragonAgeOrigins'' are small, poison-spitting dinosaurs that utilize this trope.
* Barnacles from the ''VideoGame/HalfLife'' series, combined with NestedMouths in VideoGame/HalfLife2
* Promos for the ''Defiance'' online game feature a giant monster with a lamprey mouth on the top of its body.
* ''VideoGame/BrutalLegend'' has the [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin Lamprey]] boss, though the mouth is shaped more like a [[VaginaDentata vagina]].
* ''{{VideoGame/Awesomenauts}}'' has the Entins, who, despite otherwise being space caterpillars, sport these mouths.
** It also features more traditional {{Sand Worm}}s on planet Sorona.

* The Pols Voice from ''Franchise/TheLegendOfZelda'' were already plenty creepy enough for their sheer "otherness", being a limbless, bloblike creature with a few recognizably lagomorphic features like long ears and whiskers. Their 3-D appearance in ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaPhantomHourglass'' ups the creepiness by revealing that their ''entire underside'' consists of a huge mouth filled with sharp, concentric teeth.
* The Great Serpent of Ronka, from ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXIV'', is a tiny little {{Tsuchinoko}}, and therefore has one of these. It's never seen eating, just wriggling and screeing adorably.

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* In ''WesternAnimation/ThePowerpuffGirls1998'' episode "The Headsucker's Moxy", the girls fight "the Robbing Leech" (a pun on Robin Leach) who uses his lamprey mouth to suck knowledge from peoples' brains in order to steal things. He's defeated after he tries this on The Mayor of Townsville, whose brain is a more perfect vacuum than the Leech's.
* Scraplets from ''WesternAnimation/TransformersPrime'', essentially metal-eating flying piranhas. They look cute until they see metal, then they open their mouths and reveal rings upon rings of churning, mechanical teeth.

** In the story "Bender's Game", the Tunneling Horror has a lamprey mouth in which concentric rings of teeth rotate in opposite directions.
** Leela's father, a mutant, has a normal-shaped mouth but teeth arranged in a ring.
** The shape-shifting predator from "Murder on the Planet Express" gobbles its victims whole with an extensible example of this trope.
* In ''WesternAnimation/TheChubbChubbs'', [[spoiler:the eponymous chubb-chubbs]] have these. They also rotate like sawblades.

* [[spoiler:Shalltear]]'s true form in ''LightNovel/{{Overlord}}'' has a mouth like this with a single row of sharp fangs and a long protruding tongue. One bandit even calls her a lamprey.

* ''Series/TheXFiles'': Flukeman had a lamprey mouth that incorporated features of a tapeworm's scolex.
** Ironically, flukes are in the class Trematoda and don't have a scolex (they hang on to their host with one or two muscular suckers). Scully identified the parasite she found inside the Russian sailor as a "Turbellaria"... which is, in fact, a flatworm, but they don't have a scolex either! The only flatworms that have a scolex are tapeworms, which are in the class Cestoda. As Phil Farrand, author of "The Nitpicker's Guide for X-Philes" might point out, "Tapeman" doesn't sound nearly as cool as "Flukeman". This was hardly the only [[IncrediblyLamePun fluke]] in this episode, but the Nitpicker's Guide is a more appropriate place for those.

[[caption-width-right:292: Yikes.]]
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[[caption-width-right:292: [[WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons "Dental]] [[MemeticMutation plan!"]]]]

* The [=USBM=] from ''Manga/BioMeat''.

* In ''WesternAnimation/ThePowerpuffGirls'' episode "The Headsucker's Moxy", the girls fight "the Robbing Leech" (a pun on Robin Leach) who uses his lamprey mouth to suck knowledge from peoples' brains in order to steal things. He's defeated after he tries this on The Mayor of Townsville, whose brain is a more perfect vacuum than the Leech's.

* While trying to assist the ghost of a young boy to pass over to the next world, [[Webcomic/GunnerkriggCourt Antimony]] encounters a creature with one of [[http://www.gunnerkrigg.com/?p=347 these.]] And it grows much [[http://www.gunnerkrigg.com/?p=349 bigger.]]

* ''Anomalocaris'', largest predator of the Burgess Shale fauna, had a tough constricting ring for a mouth, lined with bony prongs.