Sawfish facts for kids
Quick facts for kids SawfishTemporal range: Upper Cretaceous to Recent
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| Smalltooth sawfish (Pristis pectinata | |
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Pristiformes
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Pristidae
Bonaparte, 1838
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Anoxypristis |
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Sawfish are a unique type of ray that looks a bit like a shark. They belong to a group of fish called the Pristidae family. Their most amazing feature is their long, flat snout, which looks just like a saw! This special snout is called a rostrum. It has many tooth-like structures along its sides.
Like other rays, sawfish have their mouth, nostrils, and gill slits on the underside of their body. Their large pectoral fins also look like those of other rays. When they rest on the ocean floor, they breathe by taking in water through two small holes called spiracles. These are located just behind their eyes. This way, they get water to their gills without sucking in sand.
Some types of sawfish can grow to be very large, reaching about 7 meters (23 feet) long!
Their Amazing Snout
The sawfish's most special part is its saw-like snout, or rostrum. This rostrum is covered with tiny pores that can sense movement and even the heartbeats of animals. This helps sawfish find prey hiding under the sand on the ocean floor. They also use their rostrum like a shovel to dig up buried crabs and other small creatures.
If a tasty fish swims by, the sawfish, which usually moves slowly, can quickly attack. It slashes at the prey with its saw. This often stuns or hurts the prey enough for the sawfish to eat it. Sawfish also use their rostrum to protect themselves from predators, like sharks. The 'teeth' on the rostrum are not real teeth. Instead, they are special tooth-like structures called denticles.
Images for kids
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Extinct sawfish are often only known from their rostral teeth, here from the Eocene species Pristis lathami.
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Comparison of the largetooth (top), green (middle) and narrow sawfish (bottom). Notice especially the structure of the saw, tail and pectoral fins, and the position of the first dorsal fin compared to the pelvic fins
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Compare the sizes of Green sawfish (top) and Dwarf sawfish(bottom).
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The smalltooth sawfish is the only species found strictly in the Atlantic region and the only that survives in the United States.
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A smalltooth sawfish in shallow water at Bimini, the Bahamas
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A juvenile smalltooth sawfish being released
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Two largetooth sawfish at the Shanghai Ocean Aquarium
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A mask with a sawfish rostrum from Sepik, Papua New Guinea, now housed at the Ethnological Museum of Berlin
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The German World War II Kampfabzeichen der Kleinkampfverbände (Battle Badge of Small Combat Units)
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10000 CFA franc Banknote showing a form of sawfish imagery
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Atlantis Paradise Island became the world's first to breed a member of this family in captivity when smalltooth sawfish pups were born in 2012.
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A narrow sawfish caught by a local fisherman almost 100 years ago in the Dutch East Indies (now Indonesia)
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A largetooth sawfish in Northern Australia, which is the only remaining stronghold for four of the five species.
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Sign for the protection of smalltooth sawfish in Florida, USA
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A smalltooth sawfish briefly captured for tagging as part of a conservation project
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See also
In Spanish: Peces sierra para niños
