THE SAWFISHES 



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Day records one of twenty-four feet; in such monsters the saw may be fully six feet 

 in length, with a basal width of one foot. Some of the Indian species ascend rivers 

 to a considerable distance beyond the influence of the tides. Sawfishes use their 

 weapon of offense by striking sideways through the water, and thus inflict terrific 

 injuries, literally tearing to pieces the soft parts of such animals as they may strike; 

 and it is stated that in the Indian estuaries large ones have been known to cut 

 bathers completely in two. After tearing off pieces of flesh, or ripping up the body 

 of their victim with the saw, these fishes seize and swallow the smaller fragments 

 thus detached in their mouths. In the Malayan region the flesh of one of the species 



JAPANESE SAWFISH. 



(One-eighth natural size.) 



is highly esteemed as food; and its fins, like those of sharks, are, after due prepara- 

 tion, exported to China. 



Fossil remains of extinct species of the genus occur throughout a large portion 

 of the Tertiary formations; and an allied Eocene genus, Propristis, differs by the 

 circumstance that the teeth of the saw are not implanted in calcified sockets. A 

 very remarkable type of sawfish {Sclerorhynchus} has left its remains in the Cre- 

 taceous rocks of Syria. Not only does this fish differ from the living forms by the 

 distinctly depressed form of the relatively short and broad body, and the backward 

 extension of the pectoral fins, which almost reach the pelvic pair, but the teeth, 

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