Which crocodilian has the narrowest snout?

The crocodilian with the narrowest snout is the gharial. Its extremely long, thin jaws are a specialized adaptation for catching fish in the rivers of the Indian subcontinent.

A gharial's snout is much slimmer than the broad, powerful snout of an alligator or most crocodiles. The jaws hold many sharp, interlocking teeth that are well suited to gripping slippery prey rather than crushing large bones. Young gharials eat mainly small fish and aquatic animals, while adults are strongly associated with a fish-based diet.

Adult male gharials develop a bulbous growth on the tip of the snout called a ghara, named after a type of Indian earthen pot. The structure helps produce vocal sounds and may be involved in visual signaling and courtship. Females do not develop a comparably large ghara.

The gharial is native to river systems in northern India and Nepal and is critically endangered. Habitat alteration, sand mining, fishing-net entanglement, pollution, and declining fish populations have all contributed to its decline. The false gharial also has a slender snout, but the true gharial is the canonical answer for the narrowest crocodilian jaws.