History Main / LampreyMouth

* 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.

[[quoteright:270:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/lamprey_8782.png]]
[[caption-width-right:270:''"Kiss me!"'']]

* In ''Franchise/{{Predator}}'' films, the alien hunters have the pedipalps, although the mouth beneath them isn't actually ring-shaped.

* ''Film/{{Coneheads}}'': Beldar is revealed as having this during a dental exam.

* In ''Film/TheCabinInTheWoods'' [[spoiler: The Ballerina Dentata / Sugar Plum Fairy's entire face is one of these]].
* ''Film/StarTrek2009'': The creature Kirk runs away from on the icy world he's marooned on would probably qualify.
* 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''.
* A couple of creatures from ''Film/{{Evolution}}'' (a carnivorous "tree" and a large green bug) have mouths like this.
* 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.
* A many-limbed critter screams straight into the camera with one of these in ''Film/SilentHillRevelation3D''.
* ''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.]]
* Apophis in ''Film/GodsOfEgypt'' has a truly ''gargantuan'' one.
* ''Film/DeepRising'': The monster, a giant mutant cephalopod, has a main mouth that is just a giant opening littered with numerous backwards-facing teeth.
* 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.

* ''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.

* ''Series/StrangerThings'': The demogorgon and demodogs have lamprey mouth in conjunction with FlowerMouth.

* ''[[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 leviathan from ''Series/{{Supernatural}}'' have mouths like this.
** Also from ''Supernatural'', "The Kids are Alright" (3x02) the Changeling has this type of mouth.
* The Lebensaugers from ''Series/{{Grimm}}''.
* 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".
* 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 "Bathing Beauty" teaser for ''Series/AmericanHorrorStoryRoanoke'' features a woman looking into a bathtub, only for her [[ExorcistHead head to turn around]] and reveal this in place of her face.
* 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 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.

* Invoked in the ''Franchise/StarWars'' sequel trilogy. As a circle lined with several thin triangles on the inside, the First Order's logo resembles a lamprey mouth. This is fitting for how aggressive and murderous they are.

** Older editions depicted the purple worm with this sort of mouth.

** [[{{Cthulhumanoid}} Mind Flayers, also known as Illithid]], are stated to sport these, but artwork rarely shows their mouths.

* ''[[Series/StrangerThings]]'': The demogorgon and demodogs have lamprey mouth in conjunction with FlowerMouth.

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. [[Series/StrangerThings Extreme examples]] may occur 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.

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 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.

* 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 LampreyMouth, although spore-feeders and some insectivores avert this by having no teeth.

* The sand worms in [[Film/Dune1984 both]] [[Film/Dune2020 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 sand worms in [[Film/{{Dune}} both]] [[Film/Dune2020 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 Sarlacc from ''Film/ReturnOfTheJedi'' has the look, particularly in the original edition before extra tentacles and maws were added in digitally.

* The sand worms in [[Film/{{Dune}} both]] [[Film/Dune2020 adaptations]] of ''Literature/{{Dune}}'' are depicted this way, with pedipalps parting to reveal a ring-shaped, saw-toothed maw.

* The sand worms in ''Film/{{Dune}}'' are depicted this way, with pedipalps parting to reveal a ring-shaped, saw-toothed maw.

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 also come with an outer set of spike-tipped appendages to draw food into the mouth, like a spider's pedipalps: a sensible addition for a mouth that often can't be closed. 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.

Often overlaps with MoreTeethThanTheOsmondFamily. See also NestedMouths. Compare FlowerMouth, where the mouth moreso resembles a disgusting blooming flower than a lamprey or worm-like creature.

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Often overlaps with MoreTeethThanTheOsmondFamily. See also NestedMouths. Compare FlowerMouth, where the mouth moreso resembles a disgusting blooming flower than a lamprey or worm-like creature. SubTrope to MonsterMouth.

Often overlaps with MoreTeethThanTheOsmondFamily. See also NestedMouths. Compare FlowerMouth, where the mouth moreso resembles a disgusting blooming flower than a lamprey or worm-like creature.

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* Franchise/{{Superman}} villain Parasite has a mouth like this in some [[DependingOnTheArtist depictions]].
* The Sandlings in ''ComicBook/WhiteSand'' have round mouth full of several rings of inwards-pointing teeth.
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* The creature Kirk runs away from in the rebooted ''Film/StarTrek'' on the icy world he's marooned on would probably qualify.