Page 80 - World of Animals - Issue #39

In numbers…
Sawfish

These curious looking critters are fish on the brink. Here’s

everything you need to know about the fascinating sawfish

The first time you see a sawfish, This amazing appendage is

KNIFETOOTH SAWFISH

Anoxypristis cuspidata it’s easy to see how these fish tipped with denticles – they
Class Chondrichthyes get their name! They are sharky looks like teeth but are actually

looking animals with a very large modified scales. The sawfish

protruding snout that looks like a uses its rostrum for finding and
saw. But these fish are actually a catching prey. Electroreceptors

Territory Indo-Pacific oceans type of ray. They are found living within help locate a dinner of fish

Diet Squid and small fish on the sandy bottoms of tropical and crustaceans, and then the
Lifespan 20 years shallow seas, rivers, estuaries and sawfish can use its snout to stir

Adult weight 544kg (1,200lb)

Conservation Status mangroves and can tolerate a up substrate and flush out any
wide range of salinities. tasty morsels within. The rostrum
The defining feature of the is also incredibly strong, and the

ENDANGERED highly endangered sawfish is its fish can use it to club and stun
snout – known as the ‘rostrum’. prey for an easy mouthful.
The ‘teeth’ on the
sawfi sh’s rostrum
aren’t really teeth at all.
They’re modified scales

known as denticles
that play a role in
sensing prey.
Sawfish can grow to colossal sizes! The largest Sawfish babies are known as pups. They

species is the smalltooth sawfish, which can reach can be born in large litters, each with a

over 7m/23 in length. protective membrane over its rostrum.
There are 5 sawfish species

Narrow Sawfish
Anoxypristis Cuspidata

Dwarf Sawfish

Pristis Clavata

Smalltooth Sawfish

Pristis Pectinata

Largetooth Sawfish
Pristis Pristis
Sawfi sh are
ovoviviparous,
which means that
they give birth to
Green Sawfish Endangered live young.

Pristis Zijsron
Critically Endangered
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