Feeding in water versus on land imposes drastically different biomechanical challenges. Important innovations in the tetrapod feeding apparatus that facilitate terrestrialization include changes to tongue (hyobranchium) structure and function. In an aquatic environment, suction feeders use their often elaborate tongue system as a piston to draw water into the oropharynx, and the water in turn transports the food. By contrast, terrestrial tongues are primarily used for direct food manipulation during feeding, where they must precisely position food within the oropharynx between chews. We use biplanar videofluoroscopy to reconstruct 3D feeding kinematics of the tongue bone (basihyal) before and after induced metamorphosis in the Axolotl (Ambystoma mexicanum). We hypothesize that the piston-like hydrodynamic action of the suction feeding tongue involves minor out-of-the-plane deviations from pro-retraction, and elevation-depression. We also hypothesize that positioning food in occlusion during terrestrial chewing involves significantly more lateral tongue translation. Chew cycles in the aquatic Axolotl involve lateral tongue excursions of 0.199 ± 0.123 cm (mean ± S.D.). This result instills caution about interpreting suction feeding tongue action as a pure 2D action. In the terrestrial morph, lateral excursion is doubled (0.416 ± 0.149 cm), consistent with our second hypothesis. Early tetrapod fossils also demonstrate reductions in hyobranchial prominence, which may have facilitated increased lateral tongue excursions during chewing. Our lissamphibian feeding kinematics data may thus inform our understanding of how early tetrapods maintained feeding abilities as they invaded land.