Fishes of the lVeste7~n North Atlantic 2 3 



rather broadly rounded; origin of first dorsal clearly pos- 

 terior to midpoints of bases of pelvics; a large species, 

 growing to upwards of 20 feet in length. 



zijsron Bleeker 1851. 

 Cochin-China, Australia, East 

 Indies, Ceylon, India, Gulf 

 of Oman. 

 6b. 18-21 pairs of rostral teeth; outer corners of pectorals sub- 

 angular, about a right angle; origin of first dorsal anterior 

 to midpoints of bases of pelvics ; said to be a small species, 

 growing to about 4^/2 feet. clavata Garman 1906. 



Queensland, Australia; also 

 reported from the Canaries.*^ 



Pristis pectinatus Latham 1794 



Common Sawfish 



Figures 3, 4 



Study Material. Immature male, 1,396 mm long, from off Galveston, Texas; six 

 small specimens, male and female, 960—1,040 mm long, from the vicinity of Galveston, 

 Texas; and one newborn male, 675 mm long, from Mobile, Alabama; also a saw from 

 a 14-foot specimen (sex not recorded) from southern Florida, and a saw about three 

 feet long from a female more than 12 feet long from Pascagoula Bay, Louisiana; all 

 in the Museum of Comparative Zoology; female about 3 feet 7 inches long from the 

 Indian River, Florida, in Chicago Museum of Natural History. 



Distinctive Characters. P. pectinatus is easily separable from the only other Sawfish 

 {P . perottet'i) known from the western side of the Atlantic by the following facts: its 

 first dorsal fin originates about over the origin of its pelvics (considerably in front of 

 origin of pelvics in P. perottet'i) ; its caudal is much shorter, but broader relative to the 

 length of the fin, with lower lobe only faintly indicated (cf. Fig. 3 with 5); its rostral 

 teeth are more numerous, 24 or more on each side (not more than 1 9 or 20 in P. perotteti, 

 but see p. 43, fn. 100); its saw is relatively somewhat shorter; its second dorsal has 

 the posterior margin much less deeply concave; and its pectorals are smaller. It agrees 

 with P. pristis of the eastern Atlantic in the shape of its caudal and in the position of 

 the first dorsal fin relative to the pelvics, but it is separable from P. pristis by its more 

 numerous rostral teeth (see Key, p. 22). 



Description. Proportional dimensions in per cent of total length. Female, 1,017 "^n^> 



63. Pristis clanjata closely resembles P. zijsron, but the differences in number of rostral teeth, in the shape of the pec- 

 torals, and in the position of the first dorsal relative to the pelvics seem sufficient for specific recognition. We should 

 point out, however, that Carman's (Bull. Mus. comp. Zool. Harv., 46, 1906: 20S; Mem. Harv. Mus. comp. Zool., 

 36, 191 3: 264) characterization of its second dorsal as smaller than its first might be misleading, for the linear di- 

 mensions of the two fins of the type specimen, which we have examined, are in the proportion of only about i.i to 

 I. It has been reported from Australia by Whitley (Fish. Aust., i, 1940: 178) also; and from the Canaries by Bel- 

 Ion and Mateu (Notas Inst. esp. Oceanogr., [2] 53, 193 1: 28) from a dried specimen with 21 saw teeth. 



