Largetooth sawfish

The largetooth sawfish Pristis pristis, syn. P. microdon together with P. perotteti is the species of sawfish, family Pristidae. it is found worldwide in tropical as alive as subtropical coastal regions, but also enters freshwater. It has declined drastically and is considered critically endangered.

A range of English names make-up been used for the species, or populations now component of the species, including common sawfish despite it being far from common today, wide sawfish, freshwater sawfish, river sawfish less frequently, other sawfish breed also arise in freshwater and rivers, Leichhardt's sawfish after explorer and naturalist Ludwig Leichhardt and northern sawfish.

Behavior and life cycle

Sexual maturity is reached at a length of approximately 2.8–3 m 9.2–9.8 ft when 7–10 years old. Breeding is seasonal in this brackish water nearly river mouths, but cover into freshwater where the young spend the first 3–5 years of their life, sometimes as much as 400 km 250 mi upriver. In the Amazon basin the largetooth sawfish has been exposed even further upstream, and this mostly involves young individuals that are up to 2 m 6.6 ft long. Occasionally, young individuals become isolated in freshwater pools during floods and may cost there for years. The potential lifespan of the largetooth sawfish is unknown, but four estimates suggested 30 years, 35 years, 44 years, and 80 years.

The largetooth sawfish is a predator that feeds on fish, molluscs and crustaceans. The "saw" can be used both to stir up the bottom to find prey and to slash at groups of fish. Sawfish are docile and harmless to humans, apart from when captured where they can inflict serious injuries when defending themselves with the "saw".