Dwarf Sawfish (Pristis clavata)
Did You Know?
-
Dwarf sawfish can have 19-23 teeth on each side of their "saw," or rostrum.
- 5 sawfish species are listed as endangered under the ESA.
CITES Appendix I - throughout its range
Weight:
|
26.5 pounds (12 kg) |
Length:
|
up to 11.5 feet (3.5 m) |
Appearance:
|
known for their "saws," long, thin flat snouts edged with pairs of teeth, olive-brown upper body coloration |
Lifespan:
|
over 50 years; maturity is reached at 6-7 years (at 8-10 feet (2.4-3 m) in length) |
Diet:
|
mostly fish, but also crustaceans and mollusks |
Behavior:
|
"ovoviviparous," meaning the mother holds the eggs inside of her until the young are ready to be born |
Sawfish, like sharks, skates and rays, belong to a group of fish called elasmobranchs, whose skeletons are made of cartilage. Sawfish are actually modified rays with a shark-like body and gill slits on their ventral (abdominal) side.
Early sawfish, distant cousins to modern day sawfish, first appeared in the ocean around 100 million years ago. Today's "modern day" sawfish species have been in the ocean around 56 million years.
Sawfish get their name from their rostrum or "saws"--long, flat snouts edged with pairs of teeth which are used to locate, stun, and kill prey. Their diet includes mostly fish but also some crustaceans and mollusks.
The species can be confused with the similar smalltooth sawfish (P. pectinata) and largetooth sawfish (P. pristis).
Dwarf sawfish are generally restricted to shallow (less than 33 feet (10 m)) coastal and estuarine habitats, although they have been found in rivers up to 6 miles upstream. Like most sawfishes, the dwarf sawfish prefers muddy bottoms in estuarine environments. Dwarf sawfish are thought to have historically occurred in the Indo-Pacific, western Pacific, and eastern Indian Oceans. Their range has contracted and there are now very few records in the Indian Ocean or other parts of the Indo-Pacific outside of Australia. In Australia, dwarf sawfish have been reported from Cairns to the east, through the Gulf of Carpentaria in the north, and through Kimberley to the west. Most records over the last 30 years have been from north and northwest Australia. No robust estimates of historic or current population size exist. However, available data, museum and catch reports, and other records indicate that the species' distribution has been greatly reduced and that the population numbers have declined dramatically. It is likely that western Australia is the last significant area of dwarf sawfish.- entanglement in nets, lines, and trawls
- bycatch in fisheries, though in some areas they have been directly targeted
- loss of habitat due to development
- juvenile sawfish use shallow habitats as important nursery areas, many of these have been modified or lost
- inadequate regulatory mechanisms
- low rate of population growth
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Chondrichthyes
Order: Pristiformes
Family: Pristidae
Genus: Pristis
Species: clavata (All documents are in PDF format.)
Title | Federal Register | Date |
---|---|---|
Final Rule to List 5 Species of Sawfish as Endangered under the ESA | 79 FR 73978 | 12/12/2014 |
12-Month Finding and Proposed Endangered Listing of Five Species of Sawfish, including status review | 78 FR 33300 | 06/04/2013 |
90-day finding on Petition, Initiation of Status Review | 76 FR 12308 | 03/07/2011 |
Petition to list Six Species of Sawfish | n/a | 09/07/2010 |
- IUCN Red List Species Information
- Florida Museum of Natural History Species Information
- Fishbase Species Summary
Updated: May 31, 2016