WoRMS taxon details

Pristis pectinata Latham, 1794

105848 (urn:lsid:marinespecies.org:taxname:105848)

  1. Biota
  2. Animalia (Kingdom)
  3. Chordata (Phylum)
  4. Vertebrata (Subphylum)
  5. Gnathostomata (Infraphylum)
  6. Chondrichthyes (Parvphylum)
  7. Elasmobranchii (Class)
  8. Neoselachii (Subclass)
  9. Batoidea (Infraclass)
  10. Rhinopristiformes (Order)
  11. Pristidae (Family)
  12. Pristis (Genus)
  13. Pristis pectinata (Species)
accepted
Species
Pristis Linck, 1790
marine, brackish, fresh, terrestrial
Latham, J. F. (1794). An essay on the various species of sawfish. <em>The Transactions of the Linnean Society of London.</em> v. 2 (art. 25): 273-282, Pls. 26-27. [details] 
Description Inhabits mainly inshore coastal waters, also around offlying islands. Commonly seen in estuaries, lagoons, river mouths and...  
Description Inhabits mainly inshore coastal waters, also around offlying islands. Commonly seen in estuaries, lagoons, river mouths and even freshwater. Adapted to water temperatures of 16° to 30°C. Uses its saw to stir the bottom when feeding on bottom invertebrates and to kill pelagic fishes (Ref. 9859). Ovoviviparous, with gravid females containing about 15-20 embryos. Saws serving as trophies or taken by tourists as souvenirs. Young are utilized as food in the Western Atlantic (Ref. 9859). [details]

Distribution N.C. (rarely N.Y.), Bermuda, and n. Gulf of Mexico to Brazil  
Distribution N.C. (rarely N.Y.), Bermuda, and n. Gulf of Mexico to Brazil [details]
Froese, R. and D. Pauly. Editors. (2026). FishBase. Pristis pectinata Latham, 1794. Accessed through: World Register of Marine Species at: https://www.marinespecies.org/aphia.php?p=taxdetails&id=105848 on 2026-07-09
Date
action
by
2004-12-21 15:54:05Z
created
van der Land, Jacob
2008-01-15 17:27:08Z
changed
Bailly, Nicolas

Creative Commons License The webpage text is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 4.0 License


Nomenclature

original description Latham, J. F. (1794). An essay on the various species of sawfish. <em>The Transactions of the Linnean Society of London.</em> v. 2 (art. 25): 273-282, Pls. 26-27. [details] 

original description (of Pristis acutirostris Duméril, 1865) Duméril, A. H. A. (1865). Histoire naturelle des poissons ou ichthyologie générale. Tome Premier. I. Elasmobranches. Plagiostomes et Holocéphales ou Chimères. v. 1: 1-720, Atlas: pp. 1-8, Pls. 1-14. [Pt. 1 = pp. 1-352, Pt. 2 = 353-720.]., available online at https://doi.org/10.5962/bhl.title.2111 [details] 

original description (of Pristis annandalei Chaudhuri, 1908) Chaudhuri, B. L. (1908). XXXVII - Description of a new species of Saw-Fish Captured off the Burma Coast by the Government of Bengal's Steam Trawler "Golden Crown". <em>Records of the Indian Museum (Calcutta).</em> 2 (pt 4) (art. 37): 391-392., available online at https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/35164236#page/515/mode/1up [details] 

original description (of Pristis granulosa Bloch & Schneider, 1801) Bloch, M.E.; Schneider, J.G. (1801). M.E. Blochii, Systema Ichthyologiae iconibus cx illustratum. Post obitum auctoris opus inchoatum absolvit, correxit, interpolavit Jo. <em>Gottlob Schneider, Saxo. Berolini. Sumtibus Auctoris Impressum et Bibliopolio Sanderiano Commissum.</em> Pp i-lx + 1-584, Pls. 1-110., available online at https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/bibliography/5750#/summary, https://researcharchive.calacademy.org/research/ichthyology/catalog/getref.asp?id=471 [details] 

original description (of Pristis leptodon Duméril, 1865) Duméril, A. H. A. (1865). Histoire naturelle des poissons ou ichthyologie générale. Tome Premier. I. Elasmobranches. Plagiostomes et Holocéphales ou Chimères. v. 1: 1-720, Atlas: pp. 1-8, Pls. 1-14. [Pt. 1 = pp. 1-352, Pt. 2 = 353-720.]., available online at https://doi.org/10.5962/bhl.title.2111 [details] 

original description (of Pristis megalodon Duméril, 1865) Duméril, A. H. A. (1865). Histoire naturelle des poissons ou ichthyologie générale. Tome Premier. I. Elasmobranches. Plagiostomes et Holocéphales ou Chimères. v. 1: 1-720, Atlas: pp. 1-8, Pls. 1-14. [Pt. 1 = pp. 1-352, Pt. 2 = 353-720.]., available online at https://doi.org/10.5962/bhl.title.2111 [details] 

original description (of Pristis pectinatus Latham, 1794) Latham, J. F. (1794). An essay on the various species of sawfish. <em>The Transactions of the Linnean Society of London.</em> v. 2 (art. 25): 273-282, Pls. 26-27. [details] 

original description (of Pristis serra Bloch & Schneider, 1801) Bloch, M.E.; Schneider, J.G. (1801). M.E. Blochii, Systema Ichthyologiae iconibus cx illustratum. Post obitum auctoris opus inchoatum absolvit, correxit, interpolavit Jo. <em>Gottlob Schneider, Saxo. Berolini. Sumtibus Auctoris Impressum et Bibliopolio Sanderiano Commissum.</em> Pp i-lx + 1-584, Pls. 1-110., available online at https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/bibliography/5750#/summary, https://researcharchive.calacademy.org/research/ichthyology/catalog/getref.asp?id=471 [details] 

original description (of Pristobatus occa Duméril, 1865) Duméril, A. H. A. (1865). Histoire naturelle des poissons ou ichthyologie générale. Tome Premier. I. Elasmobranches. Plagiostomes et Holocéphales ou Chimères. v. 1: 1-720, Atlas: pp. 1-8, Pls. 1-14. [Pt. 1 = pp. 1-352, Pt. 2 = 353-720.]., available online at https://doi.org/10.5962/bhl.title.2111 [details] 

original description (of Pristis woermanni Fischer, 1884) Fischer, J. G. (1884). Über einige Afrikanische Reptilien, Amphibien, und Fische des Naturhistorischen Museums. I. Über die von Herrn G. A. Fischer im Massai-Gebiete (Ost-Afrika) auf seiner in Veranlassung der Geographischen Gesellschaft in Hamburg unternommenen Expedition gesammelten Reptilen, Amphibien und Fische. <em>Jahrbuch der Hamburgischen Wissenschaftlichen Anstalten.</em> 1: 1-32, Pls. 1-3. [details] 

original description (of Pristis evermanni Fischer, 1884) Fischer, J. G. (1884). Über einige Afrikanische Reptilien, Amphibien, und Fische des Naturhistorischen Museums. I. Über die von Herrn G. A. Fischer im Massai-Gebiete (Ost-Afrika) auf seiner in Veranlassung der Geographischen Gesellschaft in Hamburg unternommenen Expedition gesammelten Reptilen, Amphibien und Fische. <em>Jahrbuch der Hamburgischen Wissenschaftlichen Anstalten.</em> 1: 1-32, Pls. 1-3. [details] 

basis of record van der Land, J.; Costello, M.J.; Zavodnik, D.; Santos, R.S.; Porteiro, F.M.; Bailly, N.; Eschmeyer, W.N.; Froese, R. (2001). Pisces, <B><I>in</I></B>: Costello, M.J. <i>et al.</i> (Ed.) (2001). <i>European register of marine species: a check-list of the marine species in Europe and a bibliography of guides to their identification. Collection Patrimoines Naturels,</i> 50: pp. 357-374 (look up in IMIS) [details] 

Ecology

ecology source Looby, A.; Erbe, C.; Bravo, S.; Cox, K.; Davies, H. L.; Di Iorio, L.; Jézéquel, Y.; Juanes, F.; Martin, C. W.; Mooney, T. A.; Radford, C.; Reynolds, L. K.; Rice, A. N.; Riera, A.; Rountree, R.; Spriel, B.; Stanley, J.; Vela, S.; Parsons, M. J. G. (2023). Global inventory of species categorized by known underwater sonifery. <em>Scientific Data.</em> 10(1). (look up in IMIS), available online at https://doi.org/10.1038/s41597-023-02745-4 [details] OpenAccess publication

Other

context source (Bermuda) Smith-Vaniz, W. F.; Collette, B. B.; Luckhurst, B. E (1999). Fishes of Bermuda: History, zoogeography, annotated checklist, and identification keys (American Society of Ichthyologists and Herpetologists - Special Publication No.4) . ASIH, 424 pp. [details] 

context source (PeRMS) Chirichigno, N.; Cornejo, M. (2001). Catálogo comentado de los peces marinos del Perú. <em>2ª ed. Instituto del Mar de Perú. Publicación Especial. Callao.</em> 314 p. [details] 

additional source Robins, C. R.; Ray, G. C.; Douglass, J.; Freund, R. (1986). A field guide to Atlantic coast fishes of North America. <em>Houghton Mifflin Co. Boston.</em> 1-354. [details] 

additional source McEachran, J. D. (2009). Fishes (Vertebrata: Pisces) of the Gulf of Mexico, Pp. 1223–1316 in: Felder, D.L. and D.K. Camp (eds.), Gulf of Mexico–Origins, Waters, and Biota. Biodiversity. Texas A&M Press, College Station, Texas. [details] 

additional source Ben Rais Lasram, F.; Mouillot, D. (2008). Increasing southern invasion enhances congruence between endemic and exotic Mediterranean fish fauna. <em>Biological Invasions.</em> 11(3): 697-711., available online at https://doi.org/10.1007/s10530-008-9284-4 [details] Available for editors  PDF available [request]

additional source Froese, R. & D. Pauly (Editors). (2026). FishBase. World Wide Web electronic publication. version (04/2025)., available online at https://www.fishbase.org [details] 

 
 Present  Present in aphia/obis/gbif/idigbio   Inaccurate  Introduced: alien  Containing type locality 
   

Unreviewed
Description Inhabits mainly inshore coastal waters, also around offlying islands. Commonly seen in estuaries, lagoons, river mouths and even freshwater. Adapted to water temperatures of 16° to 30°C. Uses its saw to stir the bottom when feeding on bottom invertebrates and to kill pelagic fishes (Ref. 9859). Ovoviviparous, with gravid females containing about 15-20 embryos. Saws serving as trophies or taken by tourists as souvenirs. Young are utilized as food in the Western Atlantic (Ref. 9859). [details]

Distribution N.C. (rarely N.Y.), Bermuda, and n. Gulf of Mexico to Brazil [details]

Habitat benthic [details]
    Definitions

Loading...
LanguageName 
English smalltooth sawfish  [details]
German SägefischKleinzahn-SägerochenKammsägefisch  [details]
Hebrew מסורן ארך-שן  [details]
Lithuanian paprastoji pjūklažuvė  [details]
Polish piła drobnozębna  [details]
Russian пилорыл гребенчатый  [details]
Spanish pez sierra peinepez sierrapez peine  [details]
Turkish ince dişli testere balığı  [details]
Ukrainian Риба-пилка дрібнозуба  [details]
To Barcode of Life (45 barcodes) 
To Biodiversity Heritage Library (12 publications) (from synonym Pristis acutirostris Duméril, 1865)
To Biodiversity Heritage Library (12 publications) (from synonym Pristis serra Bloch & Schneider, 1801)
To Biodiversity Heritage Library (15 publications) (from synonym Pristis occa (Duméril, 1865))
To Biodiversity Heritage Library (16 publications) (from synonym Pristis megalodon Duméril, 1865)
To Biodiversity Heritage Library (19 publications) (from synonym Pristis granulosa Bloch & Schneider, 1801)
To Biodiversity Heritage Library (195 publications) (from synonym Pristis pectinatus Latham, 1794)
To Biodiversity Heritage Library (24 publications) 
To Biodiversity Heritage Library (5 publications) (from synonym Pristis annandalei Chaudhuri, 1908)
To Biodiversity Heritage Library (5 publications) (from synonym Pristis woermanni Fischer, 1884)
To Biodiversity Heritage Library (7 publications) (from synonym Pristis leptodon Duméril, 1865)
To European Nucleotide Archive, ENA (Pristis pectinata) 
To FishBase 
To FishBase (from synonym Pristis granulosa Bloch & Schneider, 1801)
To FishBase (from synonym Pristis leptodon Duméril, 1865)
To FishBase (from synonym Pristis annandalei Chaudhuri, 1908)
To FishBase (from synonym Pristis acutirostris Duméril, 1865)
To FishBase (from synonym Pristis megalodon Duméril, 1865)
To FishBase (from synonym Pristis occa (Duméril, 1865))
To FishBase (from synonym Pristis serra Bloch & Schneider, 1801)
To FishBase (from synonym Pristis pectinatus Latham, 1794)
To FishBase (from synonym Pristis evermanni Fischer, 1884)
To FishBase (from synonym Pristobatus occa Duméril, 1865)
To FishBase (from synonym Pristis woermanni Fischer, 1884)
To FishSounds 
To GenBank (51638 nucleotides; 37232 proteins) 
To IUCN Red List (Critically Endangered) 
To NMNH Extant Collection (Pristis pectinata USNM 42374 photograph dorsal view) 
To NMNH Extant Collection (Pristis pectinata USNM 42374 radiograph) 
To PESI 
To ITIS
Unreviewed

WoRMS

Using WoRMS

Tools

Connect with us

This service is powered by LifeWatch Belgium
Learn more»
Website and databases developed and hosted by Flanders Marine Institute · Page generated on 2026-07-09 19:35:51+02:00 · Privacy and cookie policy