Sawfishes are elasmobranchs (cartilaginous fish). The sawfish, also known as the "carpenter shark,” is one of the world’s most endangered fish. Although this fish has a sharklike body, it not a shark. It is a type of a ray fish that is closely related to stingrays. They resemble some sharks because of convergent evolution (i.e., they live similarly in the same environment as some sharks, therefore, they look similar to some sharks).
Sawfishes are characterized, however, by a long and narrow, toothed snout (rostrum) that resembles a saw. The rostrum has teeth on both sides, with a total of 22 to 29 teeth. The “saw” is used for stunning fish that it wants to eat. The flattened body of the sawfish has gill slits located on the underside of the body (similar to stingrays). In addition, the sawfish has no bones; rather it has cartilage; thus they have a poor fossil record.
There are presently five living [extant] species of the sawfish, but all are endangered because of the activities of (you probably it) by human activity. Two of these species live in the Gulf of Mexico [now the Gulf of America] and along the borders of southern states. These animals are illegal to sell or trade in the USA. It is estimated that there are between 200 and 5,000 individuals of sawfish left worldwide.
The smallest sawfish species, Pristis pectinata, is the only sawfish species living today in Florida. A longer sawfish lives in the Gulf of Mexico but has a limited range. Sawfish are generally not aggressive. The largest known sawfish is 25 feet (7 meters) in length, including its long and slender snout. They use their saw-like snout to stun and impale fish; not for “sawing.” There is only one recorded case of a sawfish attacking a human without being provoked.
The predators of sawfish are salt-water crocodiles, as well as sharks.
Although ancestors of sawfish lived during the Cretaceous Period, the geologic range of modern sawfish is from latest Paleocene/early Eocene to modern day. Today, they prefer to live in coastal and estuarine, tropical and subtropical waters today (e.g., Florida, Bahamas, Honduras, and Cuba; western Pacific; and Indian Ocean).
Sawfish classification:
Kingdom Animalia
Phylum Chordata
Class Chondrichtyes
Order Rhinosprisformes
Family Pristidae
Genus Pristis
Type Species: Pristis pectinata, = so-called largetooth species.
The other four living species are the following: 1) smalltooth, 2) green, 3) narrow, and 4) dwarf. Collectively, the five species of Pristis vary in a few physical features such as dorsal-fin location, shape of the tail (caudal) fin, and their saw (rostrum).
USEFUL REFERENCES
Wikipedia 2025.
Wueringer, B.E., L. Squire, Jr. [unrelated to me], and S.P. Colin. 2009. The biology of extinct and extant sawfish (Batoidea: Sclerorhynchidae and Pristidae). Review in Fish Biology and Fisheries, v. 19, pp. 445-464.
