34 Memoir Sears Foundation for Marine Research 



Pristis cusfidatus Fowler, Arqu. Zool. Estad. Sao Paulo, J, 1942: 130 (listed, Bahia de Rio de Janeiro (?), 

 and Natal, Brazil, by erroneous refs. to Schreiner and Ribeiro, 1903 and to Starics, 1913). 



Doubtful References: 



Pristis pectinatus Miles, Feces Rio Magdalena, Ministr. Econ. Nac. Secc. Piscicult., 1947: 36, 37 (fresh water, 



Magdalena R., Colombia, 600 km from sea, but ident. doubtful because only 21/21 sawteeth). 

 Not Squalus pristis Linnaeus, Syst. Nat., j, 1758: 235 (E. Atlant.). 

 Not Pristis antijuorum Latham, Trans. Linn. Soc. Lond., 2, 1794: 277, pi. 26, fig. i (equals Squalus pristis 



Linnaeus 1758). 

 Not Pristis cuspidatus Latham, Trans. Linn. Soc. Lond., 2, 1794: 279, pi. 26, fig. 3. 



Pristis perotteti Miiller and Henle 1841 

 Southern Sawfish 

 Figures 2, 5, 6 



Study Material. Two immature males, 862—956 mm long, from Para, Brazil, and 

 a female of about 8 10 mm, from Marajo Island at mouth of Amazon River (Harv. Mus. 

 Comp. Zool.); immature male, 1,376 mm long, from Lake Nicaragua; female, about 

 1,400 mm long, from Lake Yzabel, Guatemala, and two small saws, 301 and 309 mm 

 long, from Lake Yzabel, Guatemala (U. S. Nat. Mus.); also a male, about 950 mm 

 long, from Rio Tuyra, Panama, a female, about the same size, from Rio Culebra, 

 Panama, tributary to the Pacific, and a saw, 560 mm long, from Rio Tilapa, Pacific 

 Coast of Panama, these last three representing the closely allied P. zephyreus Gilbert 

 and Starks 1895 (see discussion, p. 41, fn. 100). 



Distinctive Characters. P. perotteti is easily distinguishable from P. pectinatus by its 

 fewer sawteeth (normally 19 or fewer, rarely 20 on a side, 24—32 in pectinatus),^^ by 

 its first dorsal originating considerably in advance of the origin of the pelvics (about 

 on a line with the origin of the pelvics in P. pectinatus)., by the much more deeply con- 

 cave posterior margins of its dorsals, and by the fact that its caudal is not only relatively 

 longer but has a well defined lower lobe {cf. Fig. 5 with 3). The position of its first 

 dorsal relative to its pelvics and the presence of a lower caudal lobe similarly separate it 

 from P. pristis (known only from the eastern Atlantic), which agrees with P. pectinatus 

 in these respects but which has even fewer sawteeth than P. perotteti (see Key, p. 22). 

 Description. Proportional dimensions in per cent of total length. Male, 862 mm, 

 from Para, Brazil (Harv. Mus. Comp. Zool., No. 302). Male, 1,376 mm, from Lake 

 Nicaragua (U. S.Nat. Mus., No. 120468). 



Breadth: between outer corners of pectorals 27.6, 31.4. 



Snout length: in front of orbits 29.3, 24.8; in front of mouth 33.3, 28.5. 



Orbits: horizontal diameter 1.7, 1.6; distance between 5.4, 5.2. 



Spiracles: length 1.4, 1.5; distance between 4.5, 4.6. 



Mouth: breadth 5.9, 5.7. 



86. This is the character that has been invoked most often as an alternative, doubtless because many of the published 

 records of the two species have been based on detached saws alone. 



