Appearance
Sawfish are dull brownish, greyish, greenish or yellowish above, but the shade varies and dark individuals can be almost black. The underside is pale, and typically whitish.
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Group
Sawfish
Pristidae, Bonaparte, 1835
marinebrackishfreshwater
About Sawfish
Sawfish are a family of very large rays characterized by a long, narrow, flattened rostrum, or nose extension, lined with sharp transverse teeth, arranged in a way that resembles a saw. They are among the largest fish, with some species reaching lengths around 7–7.6 m (23–25 ft). They are found worldwide in tropical and subtropical regions in coastal marine and brackish estuarine waters, as well as freshwater rivers and lakes. All species are critically endangered.
They should not be confused with sawsharks (order Pristiophoriformes) or the extinct sclerorhynchoids (order Rajiformes), which have a similar appearance, or swordfish (family Xiphiidae), which have a similar name but a very different appearance.
Sawfishes are relatively slow breeders and the females give birth to live young. They feed on fish and invertebrates that are detected and captured with the use of their saw. They are generally harmless to humans, but can inflict serious injuries with the saw when captured and defending themselves.
Sawfish have been known and hunted for thousands of years, and play an important mythological and spiritual role in many societies around the world.
Habitat
Sawfish are found worldwide in tropical and subtropical waters.
Diet
Sawfish are predators that feed on fish, crustaceans and molluscs. Old stories of sawfish attacking large prey such as whales and dolphins by cutting out pieces of flesh are now considered to be wholly unsubstantiated. Humans are far too large to be considered potential prey. In captivity they are typically fed ad libitum or in set amounts that (per week) equal 1–4% of the total weight of the sawfish, but there are indications that captives grow considerably faster than their wild counterparts.
Behaviour
Relatively little is known about the reproductive habits of the sawfish, but all species are ovoviviparous with the adult females giving birth to live young once a year or every second year. In general, males appear to reach sexual maturity at a slightly younger age and smaller size than females. As far as known, sexual maturity is reached at an age of 7–12 years in Pristis and 2–3 years in Anoxypristis. In the smalltooth and green sawfish this equals a total length of 3.7–4.15 m (12.1–13.6 ft), in the largetooth sawfish at 2.8–3 m (9.2–9.8 ft), in the dwarf sawfish about 2.55–2.6 m (8.4–8.5 ft), and in the narrow sawfish at 2–2.25 m (6.6–7.4 ft). This means that the generation length is about 4.6 years in the narrow sawfish and 14.6–17.2 years in the remaining species.
Humans & conservation
=== In history, culture and mythology ===
The largetooth sawfish was among the species formally described by Carl Linnaeus (as "Squalus pristis") in Systema Naturae in 1758, but sawfish were already known thousands of years earlier.
Sawfish were occasionally mentioned in antiquity, in works such as Pliny's Natural History (77–79 AD). Pristis, the scientific name formalised for sawfish by Linnaeus in 1758, was also in use as a name even before his publication. For example, sawfish or "priste" were included in Libri de piscibus marinis in quibus verae piscium effigies expressae sunt by Guillaume Rondelet in 1554, and "pristi" were included in De piscibus libri V, et De cetis lib. vnus by Ulisse Aldrovandi in 1613. Outside Europe, sawfish are mentioned in old Persian texts, such as 13th century writings by Zakariya al-Qazwini.
Where to see it
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