News
Rangers save 40 endangered sawfish pups from dry waterhole
The rescued pups are a much needed boost to the largetooth sawfish populations.
Tag: sawfish
Wildlife
Gallery: The endangered sawfish
Sharks and Rays Australia has been conducting research surveys across river systems adjacent to Queensland’s Gulf of Carpentaria aiming to find and count sawfish. In Australia, there are four species of sawfish. Three of those are listed as vulnerable and migratory on Australia’s EPBC Act, while the fourth species is listed as migratory. Freshwater (or largetooth) sawfish (Pristis pristis) are critically endangered globally and in Australia they are protected under state legislation in Qld, NT and WA, additional to their EPBC Act listing. Dr Barbara Wueringer, the principal scientist of Sharks And Rays Australia, has been working with sawfish since 2006. As her previous work focused on how sawfish use their saw to both sense and manipulate prey, she finds the practice of amputating a sawfishes saw particularly troubling. The practice is also illegal.
News
Endangered sawfish battle crocodiles and sharks
Although equipped with a formidable saw, young freshwater sawfish do not escape unscathed from their upstream migration through crocodile- and shark-infested waters, new research has found.
News
Sawfish are the ultimate stealth hunters, study finds
New research has shed light on the function of the distinctive ‘saw’ on sawfish – and how it enables the unusual species to sneak up on its prey.