Sawfish are members of the ray family, which is related to sharks. They are ancient fish that survived the dinosaur era. They have a flat head shape with five pairs of gill openings on the ventral side and one pair of spiracles behind the eyes, similar to a stingray.
The rear of the body is slender, and like sharks, it has dorsal and caudal fins. Fish teeth are popularly used as souvenirs, jewelry, or weapons.
They are ovoviviparous, but the eggs hatch in the mother’s womb before being born as fry. They are found in warm seas worldwide, from North America, Africa, Asia, and Australia. However, they can live in freshwater for a long time.
In Thailand, there were reports of sawfish entering the Chao Phraya River as far as Nakhon Sawan Province.
They used to be abundant in the Thai seas. People working at the port must be careful because this fish can use its beak to hurt them. However, the fish is unlucky because its beak has teeth, making it easy for it to get caught in almost every fishing equipment.
The scientific name for this fish is Pristis. Five species of this fish live in the Pristidae family.
They are now listed as threatened or critically endangered. Sawfish were once considered culturally important in the ancient world. These fishes evolved 56 million years ago and are considered a symbol of strength and spirituality.
1. What type of animal is the sawfish?
Sawfish are cartilaginous fish with four types of fins. Two pectoral fins provide lift and control while swimming and two pelvic fins stabilize the body—two dorsal fins on the upper surface rescue the fish from rolling. Different species have fins of different sizes and shapes.
2. To what class of animals does the sawfish belong?
They belong to the class Chondrichthyes, like sharks and chimeras, which have a cartilaginous rather than bony skeleton.
3. How many species are there in the world?
There are currently five species of sawfish. Just approximately 200-5,000 sawfish are believed to be left worldwide. Today, sawfish species include three groups of small tooth fish:
- The Green Sawfish (Pristis zijsron),
- The Dwarf Sawfish (Pristis clavata),
- The Smalltooth Sawfish (Pristis pectinate),
and one group of large-tooth fish called the Blue Sawfish (Pristis pristis).
4. Where does the sawfish live?
Sawfish live in tropical seas and freshwater rivers. They live mainly in shallow waters, from 1 to 100 meters. Young individuals can live in shallow waters, only 25 cm. This fish mainly likes to live on soft bottoms like mud or sand and survives on hard rocky bottoms or coral reefs.
5. What is the sawfish’s habitat?
They lived in the eastern Atlantic from Morocco to South Africa. The western Atlantic from New York to Uruguay, the Caribbean, and the Gulf of Mexico. In the late 1800s and early 1900s, these species were common off the coast of Florida. They ranged from Mexico to northern Peru. They also went from Korea and southern Japan through Southeast Asia to Papua New Guinea and parts of Australia.
6. Who do sawfish live with?
In the wild, sawfish live in tropical and subtropical marine environments and can now adapt to fresh water. They are now kept in public aquariums so that people can preserve these small-tooth, large-tooth, and other sawfish.
7. How long does a sawfish live?
The lifespans of these fishes are around 30-50 years, depending on the species. Green sawfish, in particular, can live for 35 years, while small toothfish can live for over 42 years. Slender-nosed sawfish have a slightly shorter lifespan, at around nine years.
8. How do they reproduce?
Sawfish are ovoviviparous. During the embryonic stage, sawfish have a soft covering that protects the mother. After mating, females can give birth to 1-23 young after a few months of gestation. Some smalltooth sawfish can also reproduce by parthenogenesis.
9. What is their conservation status?
These species have been recorded as threatened or critically endangered by the ICNU.
10. What do sawfish look like?
They are sea creatures with rough skin, usually brown or grey. They have two eyes, a flat head with an elongated snout, and the mouth, nostrils, and gills on the body’s underside. The belly of the fish is flat, which allows it to float effortlessly on the water’s surface.
11. How cute are they?
It gets its name from its long, saw-like snout, which makes up between a quarter and a third of its total body length and has a fearsome appearance.
12. How do they communicate?
They have thousands of organs in their heads and snouts. These technical sense organs, called electroreceptors, allow them to detect and track the movements of other organisms by sensing electrical fields in the water.
13. How big is a fish?
The sawfish is one of the largest fish in the world, reaching 2 meters in size, larger than some sharks.
14. How fast does a fish swim?
Although the fish does not have a swim bladder, it uses its fins and swims at speeds of 0.98 miles per hour.
15. What are the names of the males and females of this species?
There is no specific name to differentiate between male and female fish. However, male fish have claspers at the base of their pelvic fins to aid identification.
16. What would you name a baby fish?
Their Baby fish are called fingerlings or fingerlings.
17. What do they eat?
They eat small fish, crabs, crustaceans, and mollusks.
18. Are they dangerous?
They are not dangerous to humans. It can attack someone by defending itself with its rostrum, especially the large-tooth sawfish.
19. Can they make good pets?
No, they cannot be kept as pets.
20. Did you know
The Disney Worldwide Conservation Fund has donated $24,000 to the Florida Museum for small-tooth fish conservation research.
