Common Sawfish – Pristis Pristis

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Common Sawfish – Pristis Pristis

 Facts:

Type: Marine

Diet: Carnivore

Size: 7m (23feet)

Weight: 2455kg (5,410pound)

Protection status: Endangered

 Further Facts:

The sawfish’s most distinctive feature is the saw-like rostrum. The rostrum is covered with electrosensitive pores that allow the sawfish to detect slight movements of prey hiding in the muddy sea floor. The rostrum also serves as a digging tool to unearth buried crustaceans. Should suitable prey try to swim past, the normally lethargic sawfish springs from the bottom and slashes at it with its saw. This generally stuns or impales the prey sufficiently for the sawfish to devour it. Sawfish also defend themselves with their rostrum against intruding divers and predators such as sharks. The “teeth” protruding from the rostrum are not real teeth, but modified tooth-like structures called denticles.

The body and head of a sawfish are flat, and they spend most of their time lying on the sea floor. Like rays, a sawfish’s mouth and nostrils are on their flat undersides. The mouth is lined with small, dome-shaped teeth for eating small fish and crustaceans; sometimes the fish swallows them whole. Sawfish breathe with two spiracles just behind the eyes that draw water to the gills. The skin is covered with tiny dermal denticles that gives the fish a rough texture. Sawfish are usually light grey or brown; the smalltooth sawfish, Pristis pectinata, appears olive green.