Sawfish

톱가오리

It looks like a shark but is a relative of rays, with a long toothed snout, its "saw", making up about a quarter of its length. It swings the saw side to side to stun fish, and sawfish are now critically endangered.

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At a glance

Class: Fish
Diet: Fish eater
Conservation status: Critically Endangered (IUCN CR)
Habitat: coasts, rivers & lakes

Quick answers

Where does the Sawfish live?

It lives in coasts, rivers & lakes of the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian oceans.

What does the Sawfish eat?

Its diet: fish eater.

Is the Sawfish endangered?

It is listed as Critically Endangered (IUCN CR).

Sawfish look like sharks, but they are a family of very large rays. Their most famous feature is the long, flat snout lined with sharp teeth on both sides, like a saw. The saw can make up about a quarter of the body length. Some sawfish reach 7 to 7.6 metres, which makes them among the largest fish.

Sawfish live in warm coastal waters, estuaries, and even freshwater rivers and lakes. Once common, they have declined sharply, and all five species are critically endangered. Their last strongholds are northern Australia and Florida. They are protected in several countries, and international trade in them has been restricted since 2007.

What is the saw for?

Sawfish swim slowly close to the bottom and use the saw to find fish and crustaceans in the mud, sensing the movement and heartbeat of prey. When they find a school of fish, they swing the saw from side to side to stun or injure them. Because of the toothy snout they cannot bite their food and can only swallow small prey. They are generally harmless to people, but the saw can hurt someone badly if a sawfish is caught and defends itself.

Why are they in trouble?

Sawfish breed slowly, and the females give birth to live young. They are caught by accident in nets, hunted for fins and for saws used in traditional medicine, and they lose coastal habitat. Where laws protect them, sawfish caught by accident have to be released. People have also hunted sawfish for thousands of years, and the animal appears in myths and spiritual traditions around the world.

Fun facts

Despite its shark-like body, the sawfish is a kind of ray.
The saw can be about a quarter of the sawfish's length.
Despite the shark-like shape, a sawfish is a kind of ray.
It is easy to mix up with the sawshark, which looks similar but is a different group.
Sawfish may be active mostly at night.