Fishes of the IVestern North Atlantic 39 



specimen from the fresh water of Lake Nicaragua is pictured^" as being mouse gray 

 on saw as well as over upper and lateral surfaces of anterior part of trunk; mouse gray 

 shaded with reddish along midback posterior to first dorsal fin; reddish posterior to 

 latter along lower part of sides; first dorsal pale yellow with reddish free rear corner; 

 second dorsal, pelvics, caudal, and lower sides posterior to first dorsal dull brick red. 

 But it is not clear whether the reddish tint was normal or was the result of suffusion 

 with blood below the skin. 



The preserved specimens that we have seen are dark gray above and grayish 

 white below. 



Size. The size at which P. pcrottcti first matures sexually is not known, but it 

 has been suggested that it grows larger than P. pectinatus. The greatest lengths actually 

 measured and recorded for P.perotteti are (in order of size) 17 feet 4 inches for one 

 from the Ivory Coast, Equatorial West Africa;"" 17 feet 4 inches, about 18 feet (15 ft. 

 without saw), and 1 8 feet 7 inches for three others from Texas. But P. perotteti^ like 

 P. microdon^ is said to reach a length of 20 teet, and apparently this is no exaggeration, 

 for a saw of P. perotteti four feet long has been reported from Natal, Brazil." And 

 a length of about 21 feet 6 inches (6,500 mm) has been recorded'^ for its representa- 

 tive in the Indian Ocean (whether specifically identical or not, see p. 21). 



Estimated weights of about 1,300 pounds for a Texas specimen 17 feet 4 inches 

 long, 1,200 pounds for another of 18 feet 7 inches, as well as 1,320 pounds (600 kilo) 

 for a large one (length not stated) from French Guiana, '^ suggest that adults of this 

 species are heavier, at equal lengths, than P . pectinatus (p. 28), and they may grow as 

 large in fresh water as in salt, for the weights of four recently caught in Lake Nicaragua 

 ranged from 354 pounds to more than 700 pounds."* 



Developmental Stages. Nothing is known of the course of development of this 

 species to set it apart from P. pectinatus (p. 28). 



Habits. Compared with P. pectinatus, P. perotteti is perhaps even more strictly con- 

 fined to shallow water in the immediate vicinity of the shore and to estuarine localities, 

 partially enclosed lagoons and similar situations. Perhaps the 15—20 foot contour line 

 would enclose practically the entire stock of the species throughout its geographic 

 range in both sides of the Atlantic, and it has long been known to be as much at home 

 in pure fresh water as it is in brackish or salt. In fact, the type specimen of the species 

 was taken from fresh water. Also, present indications are that it tends to run farther up- 

 stream in large rivers than P. pectinatus ordinarily does. Thus it has been taken some- 

 thing like 450 miles up from the sea in the Amazon River (p. 41) and has long been 

 known in Lake Nicaragua. While it may not be strictly landlocked there, in a topo- 

 graphic sense, any more than it is up the Amazon, the fact that Sawfishes breed in the 



89. Marden, Nat. geogr. Mag., 86, 1944: 173 (colored photo). 



90. Pellegrin, Poiss. Eaux douces Afr. Occ, 1923: 31- 



91. By Starks, Leland Stanf. Univ. Pub., Univ. Ser., 1913: 6. A Sawfish taken in the Gulf of Paria, Trinidad, many- 

 years ago was reported as 22 feet long by 8 feet wide, but the account (Wilson, Charlesworth Mag. nat. Hist., N. S. 

 J, 1839: 519) does not state how the measurements were taken, nor was the specimen identified as to species. 



92. Annandale, Mem. Indian Mus., 2, 1909: 6. 93. Puyo, Bull. Soc. Hist. nat. Toulouse, 70, 1936: 89. 

 94. Marden, Nat. geogr. Mag., S6, 1944: 184. 



