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Smalltooth Sawfish — printable fact sheet
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Smalltooth Sawfish
Pristis pectinata
The sawfish is not a shark. It is a ray — its gills are on the underside, as a ray's are — and the "saw" is a rostrum, an extension of the snout studded along both edges with modified scales, not teeth in the true sense, which cannot be replaced if broken. The saw does two jobs …
Did you know?
- The Smalltooth Sawfish’s rostrum can make up nearly one-third of its total body length, sometimes exceeding 1.5 meters (5 feet) long.
- It is not a shark at all but a ray — its gills are underneath, like a ray's. The underside of its saw is covered in electroreceptors, so it works as a scanner for prey buried in mud. It then lashes the saw sideways fast enough to stun a fish or cut it in half. That same saw tangles fatally in nets, which is why the species is now critically endangered.
What I learned
Draw the smalltooth sawfish
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