Smalltooth Sawfish (Pristis pectinata)

	Smalltooth sawfish (Pristis pectinata) Photo: Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission

	Did You Know? · Smalltooth sawfish were the first "elasmobranchs" to be listed under the ESA. · Sawfish saws have great significance to many cultures around the world. · Sawfish use their saws as a weapon to kill and capture prey, and also as a sensory organ, used in murky water and to detect buried prey.

Status
ESA Endangered - U.S. "distinct population segment (DPS)"
ESA Proposed Endangered - populations outside of the U.S. DPS
CITES Appendix I - throughout its range

Taxonomy
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Chondrichthyes
Order: Pristiformes
Family: Pristidae
Genus: Pristis
Species: pectinata

Species Description

Weight:	770 pounds (350 kg)
Length:	18-25 ft (5.5-7 m)
Appearance:	known for their "saws," long, flat snouts edged with pairs of teeth
Lifespan:	25-30 years
Diet:	mostly fish, but also crustaceans
Behavior:	"ovoviviparous", meaning the mother holds the eggs inside of her until the young are ready to be born

test1
test2

Sawfish, like sharks, skates and rays, belong to a group of fish called elasmobranchs, whose skeletons are made of cartilage. Sawfish are actually modified rays with a shark-like body and gill slits on their ventral side.

Early sawfish arose around 100 million years ago, but these first sawfish are actually distant cousins to modern day sawfishes, though even the modern sawfish we know today first appeared around 56 million years ago.

Sawfish get their name from their "saws"--long, flat snouts edged with pairs of teeth which are used to locate, stun, and kill prey. They have 25-29 rostral teeth per side. Males have broader rostral teeth than females. Their diet includes mostly fish but also some crustaceans.

The smalltooth sawfish is one of two species of sawfish that inhabit U.S. waters (the other being the largetooth sawfish, although it has not been found in the United States in 50 years). The body of the smalltooth sawfish is an olive grey color dorsally, with a white ventral surface.

smalltooth sawfish critical habitat map - florida

Smalltooth Sawfish Critical Habitat
(click for larger view PDF)

Habitat
Smalltooth sawfish inhabit shallow coastal waters of tropical seas and estuaries throughout the world. They are usually found in shallow waters (less than 32 ft (10 m)), very close to shore over muddy and sandy bottoms. They are often found in sheltered bays, on shallow banks, and in estuaries or river mouths. They prefer warmer water temperature of 22-28 degrees Celsius. They are known to ascend inland in river systems, and have been shown to have a salinity preference of 18-24 parts per thousand.

Critical Habitat

NMFS designated critical habitat for smalltooth sawfish in September 2009 (74 FR 45353).

Distribution
Smalltooth sawfish have been reported in the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans and in the Gulf of Mexico. However, the U.S. population is found only in the Atlantic Ocean and Gulf of Mexico. Historically, the U.S. population was common throughout the Gulf of Mexico from Texas to Florida, and along the east coast from Florida to Cape Hatteras. Outside U.S. waters, smalltooth sawfish were thought to be historically found in South Africa, Madagascar, the Red Sea, Arabia, India, the Philippines, along the coast of west Africa, portions of South America including Brazil, Ecuador, the Caribbean Sea, the Mexican Gulf of Mexico, as well as Bermuda. However, reports of smalltooth sawfish from other than the Atlantic Ocean are likely misidentifications of other sawfish.

The current range of this species in the United States has contracted to the peninsula of Florida, though smalltooth sawfish are common only in the Everglades region at the southern tip of the state. No accurate estimates of abundance trends over time are available for this species. However, available records, including museum records and anecdotal fisher observations, indicate that this species was once common throughout its historic range and that smalltooth sawfish have declined dramatically in U.S. waters over the last century.

For the rest of the western Atlantic, the presence of smalltooth sawfish has only been confirmed in recent times in the Bahamas. Anecdotal reports indicate smalltooth sawfish may also be found in localized areas off Honduras, Belize, and Cuba. In the eastern Atlantic in the last 10 years, there has been only one confirmed record of a smalltooth sawfish; that was in Sierra Leone, west Africa. They are also thought to occur in Guinea Bissau.

Population Trends
There are few reliable data available for this species, and no robust estimates of historic or current population size exist. However, available data indicate that the species' distribution has been reduced by about 90%, and that the population numbers have declined dramatically, perhaps by 95% or more.

smalltooth sawfish entangled in fishing gear; Florida Museum of Natural History

Smalltooth sawfish entangled in fishing line
(Pristis pectinata)
Photo: © Florida Museum of Natural History

Threats

bycatch in various fisheries, especially in gill nets
- ? Because adults can grow very large, and potentially damage fishing gear or even pose a threat to fishermen, many incidentally captured sawfish were killed before they were removed from fishing gear, even if the fishermen had no interest in keeping them.
loss of juvenile habitat
- ? juvenile sawfish use shallow habitats with a lot of vegetation, such as mangrove forests, as important nursery areas. Many such habitats have been modified or lost due to development of the waterfront in Florida and other southeastern states. The loss of juvenile habitat likely contributed to the decline of this species
inadequate regulatory mechanisms

Conservation Efforts
NMFS convened the Smalltooth Sawfish Recovery Team , comprising sawfish scientists, managers, and environmental managers, to develop a plan to recover the U.S. DPS of smalltooth sawfish. The team published the final recovery plan [pdf] in January 2009. The plan recommends specific steps to recover the DPS, focusing on reducing fishing impacts, protecting important habitats, and educating the public. The draft recovery plan had been made available for public comment in August 2006.

Under the Endangered Species Act (ESA), it is illegal to catch or harm an endangered sawfish. However, some fishermen catch sawfish incidentally while fishing for other species. NMFS and the Smalltooth Sawfish Recovery Team have developed guidelines to fishermen [pdf] telling them how to safely handle and release any sawfish they catch.

Some states have taken additional step to protect this species: Florida, Louisiana, and Texas have prohibited the "take" of sawfish. Florida's existing ban on the use of gill nets in state waters is an important conservation tool. Three National Wildlife Refuges in Florida also protect their habitat.

All sawfish (Pristidae) species are listed on Appendix I of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES). Appendix I limits international trade in species to exceptional circumstances only.

Regulatory Overview
The smalltooth sawfish was added to the candidate species list in 1991, removed in 1997, and placed back on the list again in 1999. In November 1999, NOAA's National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) received a petition from the Ocean Conservancy (formerly the Center for Marine Conservation) requesting that this species be listed as endangered under the ESA.

NMFS completed a status review in December 2000 (note: Appendix A of the status review [pdf] is best printed on 11x17" paper). On April 16, 2001, NMFS published a proposed rule to list the U.S. distinct population segment (DPS) of this species as endangered. On April 1, 2003, NMFS published a final rule listing this DPS as an endangered species under the ESA.

In 2009, NMFS published the final recovery plan [pdf] [2.4 MB] and designated critical habitat for the U.S. DPS. The 5-Year review was completed a year later, in 2010.

In September 2010, NMFS received a petition from WildEarth Guardians requesting that the non-U.S. population(s) of this species be listed under the ESA.

On June 4, 2013, NMFS published a proposed rule to list the non-U.S. DPS of this species as endangered.

Key Documents
(All documents are in PDF format.)

Title	Federal Register	Date
12-Month Finding and Proposed Endangered Listing of Five Species of Sawfish	78 FR 33300	06/04/2013
90-day finding on petition to list the non-ESA-listed population(s) Petition from WEG	76 FR 12308	03/07/2011
5-Year Review for U.S. DPS		10/2010
Final Critical Habitat	74 FR 45353	09/02/2009
Final Recovery Plan	74 FR 3566	01/21/2009
Proposed Critical Habitat	73 FR 70290	11/20/2008
5-Year Review Initiated for U.S. DPS	73 FR 29482	05/21/2008
Draft Recovery Plan	71 FR 49418	08/23/2006
ESA Listing Rule for the U.S. DPS	68 FR 15674	04/01/2003
Proposed Endangered Status for U.S. DPS	66 FR 19414	04/16/2001
Status Review Report (Note: Appendix A is best printed on 11x17" paper)	n/a	12/2000
90-Day findings for a Petition to list North American populations of smalltooth sawfish and largetooth sawfish as endangered under the ESA	65 FR 12959	03/10/2000
Petition to list North American populations of sawfish (Pristis pectinata and Pristis perotteti) as endangered	n/a	11/30/1999

More Information

Reference

Adams, W. F. and C. Wilson. 1995. The status of the smalltooth sawfish, Pristis pectinata Latham 1794 (Pristiformes: Pristidae) in the United States. Chondros 6:1-5.

Updated: August 26, 2013