284 Shark and Company 



slashing out with its saw to stun or kill its prey. Stories that the Sawfishes 

 attack whales have no basis, and there is substantial scientific skepticism 

 about tales of Sawfish "sawing" large chunks of flesh from the bodies 

 of large fish. The fact is that when Sawfishes aren't attacking schools 

 of small fish, they can be found grubbing around the bottom. They use 

 their saws to poke in the mud and sand, and they often wear down the 

 tips of their saw teeth at this task. 



Sawfish bodies are long, their tails powerful— and they swim as 

 sharks do, by swishing their tails and the aft part of their bodies. But 

 they are classified as rays, primarily because their gill slits are on their 

 underside. Sawfish bring forth their young alive. Many young are born 

 at one time. In one female 15% feet long, 23 young were found. The 

 pup's needle-sharp saw teeth are encased in a membrane and the "saw" 

 itself is like soft leather at birth. Soon after birth, the sheath is sloughed 

 off, and the newborn Sawfish is able to slash— or grub— for food. 



The Common sawfish (Pristis pectmatus Latham, 1794) is found in 

 the Gulf of Mexico and in tropical and subtropical Atlantic waters, 

 close to shore, from equatorial West Africa to the Mediterranean in the 

 east; from mid-Brazil to northern Florida in the West. It is also found in 

 the Gulf of Mexico and is occasionally reported as far north as New 

 York. It is known to grow to at least 18 feet in length; a 16-footer 

 weighed 700 pounds. It enters the St. Johns River of Florida quite fre- 

 quently. 



A larger, heavier, Atlantic species, the Southern sawfish (Pristis 

 perotteti Miiller and Henle, 1841), is believed to reach 20 feet in length- 

 including a 4-foot saw— and some 1,300 pounds in weight. This Sawfish 

 also has an apparent predilection for fresh water. 



P. perotteti has been caught at Parintins, Brazil, some 450 miles up 

 the Amazon, and it has taken up apparently permanent residence in Lake 

 Nicaragua in Nicaragua, home of the notorious Lake Nicaragua shark 

 (Carcharhinus nicaraguensis). Sawfish weighing up to 700 pounds have 

 been caught in the lake, where they have also been seen giving birth. 



In Thailand, Sawfish regularly swim up rivers. A 26-footer (Pristis 

 cuspidatus Latham, 1794) with an 8-foot saw was caught in the Tachin 

 River there, and a 46-footer (P. microdon Latham, 1794) was reportedly 

 caught in the Chao Phya River, 37 miles from the sea. 



The saws of the Thai Sawfish are popular votive offerings among 

 Thai fishermen, who bring them to the temples, where they are ex- 

 hibited to the delight not only of local gods but also of visiting ichthy- 

 ologists, who have found them invaluable for determining the probable 

 size, habitat, and species of local Sawfish. 



The eastern Atlantic sawfish (P. pristis Linnaeus, 1785), which is 

 also found in the Mediterranean, has been reported in the Zambesi River 



