Knife Tooth Saw Fish

Knife tooth saw fish

The knifetooth sawfish (Anoxypristis cuspidata),is  also known as the pointed sawfish or narrow sawfish

The knifetooth sawfish grows to a maximum length of about 4.7 metres (15 ft). Its body is generally shark-like but its most obvious feature is the flattened head which is extended forward in a blade-like bony snout 25 pairs of sideways-facing teeth.

The knifetooth sawfish is distributed across a broad swathe of the Indo-Pacific Ocean. It is present in the waters off Iran, India, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Malaysia, Burma, Indonesia and Papua New Guinea

The knifetooth sawfish feeds on small fish, squid and invertebrates such as crabs and shrimps.

It is itself prey to various sharks such as the hammerhead shark (Sphyrna spp.), the bull shark (Carcharhinus leucas) and the copper shark.

Pregnant females and juvenile knifetooth sawfish are particularly susceptible to entrapment in fishing gear and this is the major threat faced by this fish.

 Overfishing and habitat degradation through urbanisation of the coastline also put this species at risk and the population trend is downward.

For these reasons, the IUCN have listed this fish as "Endangered" in its Red List of Threatened Species