Largetooth Sawfish

The Largetooth Sawfish (Pristis pristis) is one of the largest members of the sawfish family (Pristidae) and is unusual among cartilaginous fish for its ability to travel long distances up freshwater rivers, sometimes far inland from the coast. Historically found in tropical and subtropical coastal, estuarine, and river waters around the world, including the Americas, Africa, and the Indo-Pacific, its range has collapsed dramatically due to overfishing, habitat degradation, and entanglement in fishing gear. It is now classified as Critically Endangered and has disappeared entirely from many regions where it was once common, with remaining strongholds including parts of northern Australia and a few river systems in the Americas and Africa.

• Body: large, elongated, shark-like, dorsoventrally flattened
• Rostrum: long, heavy, blade-shaped, edged with 14-24 pairs of large, widely spaced teeth
• Color: olive-grey to brownish above, pale below
• Size: among the largest sawfish, historically reported to exceed 6 m
• Habitat clue: frequently found far upriver in freshwater, unlike most other sawfish

Distinguished from the smalltooth sawfish by its fewer, larger, more widely spaced rostral teeth and its greater tolerance for and use of freshwater habitats.

Largetooth Sawfish historically occurred in tropical and subtropical coastal, estuarine, and freshwater river systems across much of the world, including the Atlantic and Pacific coasts of the Americas, West Africa, and the Indo-Pacific. It is notably euryhaline, able to travel great distances upstream into entirely freshwater rivers and lakes, such as Lake Nicaragua, where it was once regularly recorded. Remaining populations today are concentrated in a small number of refuge areas, most significantly rivers and coastal waters of northern Australia, along with scattered records from parts of Africa and Central/South America.

Largetooth Sawfish use their large-toothed rostrum to detect and strike prey, slashing through schools of fish and probing sediment for buried crustaceans and other invertebrates. They are capable of extended freshwater residency, with juveniles in particular using river habitats as nursery areas offering protection from marine predators. Reproduction is ovoviviparous, with females giving birth to litters of pups that possess a soft rostrum sheath at birth to prevent injury to the mother. Their toothed rostrum makes them highly susceptible to entanglement in gillnets and other fishing gear, a primary driver of their steep, ongoing population decline across their historic range.