Fun Longcomb Sawfish Facts For Kids

The longcomb sawfish Narrowsnout sawfish or Green sawfish (Pristis zijsron) is a sawfish species that belongs to the family of Pristidae. They are usually found in the Indo-West Pacific, in its subtropical and tropical areas.

It is possibly the longest among all other varients of sawfishes that have reached lengths of 24 ft (730 cm) in the past. However, today we can only find green sawfish that are around 20 ft (609.6 cm) long. They may survive for more than 50 years.

In recent studies, it is evident that like many other sawfish species they are getting extinct from places they were earlier found.

There are a number of characteristics that need to be identified to distinguish a longcomb sawfish from other sawfish.

For example, a green sawfish has its teeth near their 'saw' or Rostrum's base, unlike, smalltooth sawfish (Pristis pectinata) and largetooth sawfish (Pristis microdon) or a dwarf sawfish who has their teeth on their Rostrum's tip, which are comparatively much closer to each other than the ones at the base of their Rostrum.

If you enjoy interesting facts on fishes, check out unbelievable facts on the thorny skate and pond skater!

Longcomb Sawfish Interesting Facts

What type of animal is a longcomb sawfish?

A longcomb sawfish, also known as the narrowsnout sawfish is a species of aquatic animals belonging to the family of Pristidae, alongside smalltooth sawfish and largetooth sawfish.

What class of animal does a longcomb sawfish belong to?

This species of sawfish belongs to the class of Chondrichthyes and falls under the Genus Pristis.

How many longcomb sawfish are there in the world?

According to the IUCN Redlist, The longcomb sawfish is listed as 'Critically Endangered' in their red list of threatened species. According to their research, the population of the green sawfish is believed to have been declined by 80% over the last three generations.

The main threat for this unfortunate decline is the continuous practice of fishing. Though they have never usually been the target species, it still easily gets entangled in fishing nets.

Where does a longcomb sawfish live?

The Green sawfish primarily lives in the coastal marine, estuarine habitats, and mangrove. They even survive in shallow waters, however, they also travel far offshore which is about 230 ft (70.1 m) deep.

Some studies show records of them living in rivers 150 mi (241.4 km) far inland in the Northern Territory of Australia.

However, it is unlikely for them to be frequently in freshwater as they mainly prefer places which have a sandy bottom or ground filled with mud or stilt which are also found in parts of South Africa. That is why they are found mostly in the waters of the Red Sea instead of shallow waters.

What is a longcomb sawfish's habitat?

The longcomb sawfish inhabits primarily in the tropical and subtropical waters in the central and western Indo-Pacific. Its habitat range starts from the east coast of Africa to the Gulf of Aden and extends to the Red Sea to India, Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, and the northern parts of Australia.

The green sawfish is also known to live in parts of southern China, Vietnam, the Philippines, and Papua New Guinea.

It is seen in the shallow marine and habitats down to a depth of almost 16 ft (4.9 m) preferably on sandy and muddy seabeds.

Who do longcomb sawfish live with?

The longcomb sawfish has certain shark-like features, one of them being to live in solitary and travel alone, they migrate towards inland to mate during their mating cycle to reproduce and give birth.

How long does a longcomb sawfish live?

Due to heavy habitat loss, the population trend of the longcomb sawfish is declining and is currently a critically endangered species, but the average lifespan of these shark-like species is almost 50 years. However, in captivity, they survive until they are 35 years old.

How do they reproduce?

Though very little is discovered about the life cycle of the green sawfish but they are ovoviviparous by nature, and the newly born sawfishes have a length of about 23.6–42.5 in (60–108 cm). The regular litter size of these sawfishes stays within the range of 1-20 babies per cycle, with an average of 12 young ones every cycle.

Females migrate towards the inshore, and the young ones remain near the coastal areas after birth and lives near the delta for the early stages of their life.

They reach their sexual maturity at 9 years and are 132–144 in (335.3–365.8 cm) long. They soon migrate offshore after reaching their sexual maturity.

What is their conservation status?

 The IUCN Red list declared the population of the species of the longcomb sawfish as an endangered species back in 2012.

Currently, the green sawfish are totally under protection in Australia by a variety of Federal and State legislation (Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999). In Western Australia, they have been fully under protection by the 'Fish Resources Management Act 1994'.

In New South Wales, there are certain fisheries regulations and reporting requirements in most of the Australian fisheries that handle green sawfishes. Sawfishes are also conserved in multiple range states, including India, Bahrain, and Qatar. Although protection in these states, lacks enforcement or proper fisheries regulations.

Being listed in Appendix I of the Convention on the International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES), prohibits any international trade in the species. However, there is evidence that proves that some green sawfish products like their fins are still being traded.

Areas within range states under marine protection also provide a significant conservation benefit to green sawfish. Being labeled Critically Endangered by IUCN within the Australian waters, certain areas are closed for fishing.

Proper education and awareness among people had a significant conservation benefit. Australia has developed, sawfish-specific guidelines on how to handle the crisis and distributed them among local fishers in printed form or sometimes in videos. Face-to-face training also helps improve the process.

The aim has been to maximize the sawfish's survival during release from fishing gear. Releasing sawfishes can be pretty dangerous and it is historically stated that they were often killed to create gear retrieval safer and easier. So, the development of handling guidelines had great significance and benefits. However, the benefits are still not quantified to this date.

These activities are increasing the awareness of the importance of these conservation challenges among the masses and that they get huge public support for these conservation actions.

Longcomb Sawfish Fun Facts

What do longcomb sawfish look like?

The color of the upper parts of a green sawfish is greenish-brown to olive and the underparts have a whitish color. They have teeth near the base of their rostrum that look similar to a saw.

They have a total of 40-45 teeth on each side of their rostrum and their dorsal fin is behind the pelvic fins. They have two eyes.

How cute are they?

When compared to others of its species like the largetooth sawfish, it appears to be similar, but their elegance can be also referred to as them being cute.

How do they communicate?

Though not a lot of information about how these species communicate is available but just like with any other sawfish, this longcomb sawfish uses tactile and chemical cues to communicate.

How big is a longcomb sawfish?

Similar to largetooth sawfish, longcomb sawfish the total length of these sawfishes is around 24 ft (730 cm).

If we compare it to other fishes like narrow sawfish (Anoxypristis cuspidata) it will still appear to be of the same size as they almost are of the same length, but if we compare green sawfish vs sawshark who has a total length of only 54 in (137 cm), the length of a green sawfish who is 288 in (731 cm) long, appears to be quite massive among other fishes.

The sawsharks are always smaller than other sawfishes since the average length of an adult on average is around 3.3 ft (1 m), while the length of sawfish is around 23 ft (7 m).

How fast can a longcomb sawfish swim?

Unfortunately, the exact speed of this sawfish is still unknown.

How much does a longcomb sawfish weigh?

The average weight of a longcomb sawfish, including their rostral teeth, is 1,102.3–1,322.8 lb (500–600 kg).

What are the male and female names of the species?

There is no proper information available on what males and females of these sawfishes are called.

What would you call a baby longcomb sawfish?

The baby of a longcomb sawfish, right after the females give birth is referred to as a young one or juvenile. No other specific name is still allotted for them.

What do they eat?

The sawfish's diet consists mostly of small schooling fishes, marine crustaceans, and mollusks. They use their rostral teeth to devour their meal, and again use their saw to dislodge prey.

Are they aggressive?

There is no evidence that proves the green sawfishes to be aggressive.

Would they make a good pet?

Since they live for a shorter span in captivity and they are already critically endangered, it might not be a very good idea to keep them as pets.

Did you know...

They are known to have a very small or no tail lobe like other sawfishes, such as the knifetooth.

The biggest sawfish to ever be caught is the sharp-snouted fish.

Naming the longcomb sawfish

They have a long comb-shaped rostrum, which resulted in them being referred to as the longcomb sawfish.

The greenish color of their scale also earned them the name, green sawfish.

Are sawfish dangerous to humans?

Sawfishes, in general, are not dangerous to humans, but if they get stuck in fishing nets, they try to escape and in the process, they might end up severely hurting humans with their saw.

Here at Kidadl, we have carefully created lots of interesting family-friendly animal facts for everyone to discover! For more relatable content, check out these African lungfish facts and black ghost knifefish facts for kids.

You can even occupy yourself at home by coloring in one of our free printable fish coloring pages.

 Second image by Gant223