The Long comb Sawfish, also known as narrow snout sawfish or green sawfish (Pristis zijsron) is a species of Sawfish in the family ”Pristidae”. These fish live in tropical and subtropical rivers, lakes, and coastal areas of the world.
Long comb Sawfish are found in sizes range from 18 feet (550 cm) to 23.9 feet (730 cm). They have heavy, shark like body; flat on its ventral side. These Sawfish have long and narrow rostrum that is common to all sawfish. They have 25-34 rostral teeth on either side of the saw.
Long comb sawfish consist of counter shaded body: dark olive or grey on upper surface and pale yellow or white on lower surface. Their diet consists primarily of crustaceans and mollusks. They are mainly found in bottom dwelling, shallow bays, coastal marine, lagoons, mangrove and estuaries. They mostly rest at depths more than 70m (230ft).
Also See: Giant Pandas: “Not Endangered” but “Vulnerable” to extinction
Long comb Sawfish is characterize by slow growth, long life and late maturity sea animal. Adult males use their saws in dominance and mating battles.
Current Status
The experts fear that Long comb Sawfish are drastically declining as “Critically Endangered” on the IUCN Red List.
Conservation
Threats to sawfishes included both human-induced and natural causes of injury or mortality.
Human-induced threats include reduction in their coastal habitat through human modifications. This include construction of dams, dredge and fill practices, coastal armoring. Pollution-related injuries and death, and landings of sawfishes as bycatch and in targeted fisheries for their meat, liver oil, fins, skin (leather), and rostra.
Natural threats to sawfishes are not well known, but their predation by large predators mainly by Sharks and crocodiles cause mortality rate attributable to red tide.
Sawfish are important members of tropical and subtropical waters in the western and central Indo-Pacific. Like other top predators, sawfish perform a valuable function in culling out sick or injured prey species such as schooling fishes, crustaceans, and cephalopods.
Moreover, sawfishes have for centuries gained importance to humankind as valuable food, medicinal resources, religious and cultural symbols. So that their conservation plays important role to mankind.