Largetooth sawfish (Pristis microdon) is a saltwater, freshwater, brackish species recorded in the United States. It is found at depths of 0–10 m.
Scientific name: Pristis microdon · Water: Saltwater, Freshwater, Brackish
Size: up to 700 cm
The largetooth sawfish is a demersal pristid that inhabits the sandy or muddy bottoms of shallow coastal waters, estuaries, river mouths and freshwater rivers and lakes, usually in the turbid channels of large rivers over soft mud; adults are usually found in estuaries while the young ascend into fresh water, and large adults are occasionally found there too, though they are rarely caught. It is recorded from the surface down to about 10 m. It feeds on benthic animals and small schooling species, and it is ovoviviparous. Its saw is used for grubbing and for attacking prey as well as for defence, and the toothed rostrum can inflict serious wounds, which is why the species is recorded as traumatogenic; the saws are also sold as tourist souvenirs. It is a schooling species, maturing at about 270 cm, and it is highly susceptible to gill nets and only occasionally caught by demersal tangle net and trawl fisheries; it may already be extinct in parts of its range. Its range is the Indo-West Pacific, from East Africa to New Guinea, north to the Philippines and Viet Nam and south to Australia. Maximum length is about 700 cm total length, commonly about 500 cm, and it can live 30 years. It is a minor commercial species and a gamefish, utilized for its fins and meat with a medium price category. Fishing vulnerability is very high at 87 of 100 and resilience very low, and it is listed in CITES Appendix I; no IUCN assessment is recorded for it.
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