''Pristis'' is a genus of

sawfish Sawfish, also known as carpenter sharks, are a family of very large rays characterized by a long, narrow, flattened rostrum, or nose extension, lined with sharp transverse teeth, arranged in a way that resembles a saw. They are among the lar ...

of the

family Family (from ) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). It forms the basis for social order. Ideally, families offer predictabili ...

Pristidae Sawfish, also known as carpenter sharks, are a Family (biology), family of very large batoidea, rays characterized by a long, narrow, flattened rostrum (anatomy), rostrum, or nose extension, lined with sharp transverse plane, transverse teeth, ...

. These large fish are found worldwide in tropical and subtropical regions in coastal marine waters,

estuaries An estuary is a partially enclosed coastal body of brackish water with one or more rivers or streams flowing into it, and with a free connection to the open sea. Estuaries form a transition zone between river environments and maritime environm ...

, and

freshwater Fresh water or freshwater is any naturally occurring liquid or frozen water containing low concentrations of dissolved salts and other total dissolved solids. The term excludes seawater and brackish water, but it does include non-salty mi ...

lakes and rivers. Sawfish have declined drastically and all species are considered

critically endangered An IUCN Red List critically endangered (CR or sometimes CE) species is one that has been categorized by the International Union for Conservation of Nature as facing an extremely high risk of extinction in the wild. As of December 2023, of t ...

today.

Taxonomy

The scientific genus name ''Pristis'' is derived from the Greek word for saw.

Living species

Recent authorities recognize four species: * '' Pristis clavata''

Garman Garman is a surname or first name. Notable people with the name include: Sports * Ann Garman, All-American Girls Professional Baseball League player * Judi Garman (born 1954), American softball coach * Mike Garman (born 1949), American baseball pla ...

, 1906 — dwarf sawfish, Queensland sawfish * '' Pristis pectinata'' Latham, 1794 — smalltooth sawfish * ''

Pristis pristis ''Pristis'' is a genus of sawfish of the family Pristidae. These large fish are found worldwide in tropical and subtropical regions in coastal marine waters, estuaries, and freshwater lakes and rivers. Sawfish have declined drastically and all s ...

'' (

Linnaeus Carl Linnaeus (23 May 1707 – 10 January 1778), also known after ennoblement in 1761 as Carl von Linné,#Blunt, Blunt (2004), p. 171. was a Swedish biologist and physician who formalised binomial nomenclature, the modern system of naming o ...

1758 Events January–March * January 1 – Swedish biologist Carl Linnaeus (Carl von Linné) publishes in Stockholm the first volume (''Animalia'') of the 10th edition of ''Systema Naturae'', the starting point of modern zoologic ...

) — largetooth sawfish, common sawfish, freshwater sawfish, Leichhardt's sawfish * ''

Pristis zijsron The longcomb sawfish, narrowsnout sawfish or green sawfish (''Pristis zijsron'') is a species of sawfish in the family Pristidae, found in tropical and subtropical waters of the Indo-West Pacific. It has declined drastically and is now considered ...

'' Bleeker, 1851 — longcomb sawfish, green sawfish These are divided into two

species groups In biology, a species complex is a group of closely related organisms that are so similar in appearance and other features that the boundaries between them are often unclear. The taxa in the complex may be able to hybridize readily with each oth ...

. Most are considered a part of the smalltooth group, except ''P. pristis'' which is the sole member of the largetooth group.Faria, V. V.; McDavitt, M. T.; Charvet, P.; Wiley, T. R.; Simpfendorfer, C. A.; Naylor, G. J. P. (2013). ''Species delineation and global population structure of Critically Endangered sawfishes (Pristidae).'' Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society 167: 136–164. doi:10.1111/j.1096-3642.2012.00872.x. Two additional species, ''P. microdon'' and ''P. perotteti'', have historically been recognized, but in 2013 it was shown that they are

conspecific Biological specificity is the tendency of a characteristic such as a behavior or a biochemical variation to occur in a particular species. Biochemist Linus Pauling stated that "Biological specificity is the set of characteristics of living organism ...

with ''P. pristis'' as morphological and genetic differences are lacking, leading recent authorities to treat them as

synonyms A synonym is a word, morpheme, or phrase that means precisely or nearly the same as another word, morpheme, or phrase in a given language. For example, in the English language, the words ''begin'', ''start'', ''commence'', and ''initiate'' are a ...

. ''

Anoxypristis cuspidata The narrow sawfish (''Anoxypristis cuspidata''), also known as the pointed sawfish or knifetooth sawfish, is a species of sawfish in the family Pristidae, part of the Batoidea, a superorder of cartilaginous fish that include the rays and skates ...

'' was formerly included in ''Pristis'', but it has a number of distinctive features (for example, no teeth on the basal quarter of the saw) and recent authorities place it in its own genus.

Extinct species

According to

Fossilworks Fossilworks was a portal which provides query, download, and analysis tools to facilitate access to the Paleobiology Database, a large relational database assembled by hundreds of paleontologists from around the world. History Fossilworks was cr ...

, extinct ''Pristis'' species only known from

fossil A fossil (from Classical Latin , ) is any preserved remains, impression, or trace of any once-living thing from a past geological age. Examples include bones, shells, exoskeletons, stone imprints of animals or microbes, objects preserve ...

remains include:Fossilworks
/ref> * ''

Pristis acutidens ''Pristis'' is a genus of sawfish of the family Pristidae. These large fish are found worldwide in tropical and subtropical regions in coastal marine waters, estuaries, and freshwater lakes and rivers. Sawfish have declined drastically and all s ...

'' Agassiz 1843 * ''

Pristis amblodon ''Pristis amblodon'' is an extinct species of sawfish within the family Pristidae. It currently has two occurrences originating from New Jersey in both the Eocene and Miocene The Miocene ( ) is the first epoch (geology), geological epoch of the ...

'' Cope 1869 * '' Pristis aquitanicus'' Delfortrie 1871 * '' Pristis atlanticus'' Zbyszewski 1947 * '' Pristis bisulcatus'' Agassiz 1843 * '' Pristis brachyodon'' Cope 1869 * '' Pristis brayi'' Casier 1949 * ''

Pristis caheni ''Pristis'' is a genus of sawfish of the family Pristidae. These large fish are found worldwide in tropical and subtropical regions in coastal marine waters, estuaries, and freshwater lakes and rivers. Sawfish have declined drastically and all s ...

'' Dartevelle and Casier 1959 * ''

Pristis contortus ''Pristis'' is a genus of sawfish of the family Pristidae. These large fish are found worldwide in tropical and subtropical regions in coastal marine waters, estuaries, and freshwater lakes and rivers. Sawfish have declined drastically and all s ...

'' Dixon 1850 * '' Pristis curvidens'' Leidy 1855 * '' Pristis dubius'' Münster 1846 * '' Pristis ensidens'' Leidy 1855 * '' Pristis fajumensis'' Stromer 1905 * '' Pristis hastingsiae'' Agassiz 1843 * '' Pristis lanceolatus'' Jonet 1968 * '' Pristis lathami'' Galeotti 1837 * '' Pristis olbrechtsi'' Dartevelle and Casier 1959 * '' Pristis pectinatus'' Latham 1794 * '' Pristis pickeringi'' Case 1981 * '' Pristis prosulcatus'' Stromer 1905 However, among this list are some

species A species () is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate sexes or mating types can produce fertile offspring, typically by sexual reproduction. It is the basic unit of Taxonomy (biology), ...

considered invalid by recent authorities and others now generally recognized as belonging in ''

Anoxypristis The narrow sawfish (''Anoxypristis cuspidata''), also known as the pointed sawfish or knifetooth sawfish, is a species of sawfish in the family Pristidae, part of the Batoidea, a superorder of cartilaginous fish that include the rays and skates ...

''. Fossil ''Pristis'' range from the

Late Paleocene The Thanetian is, in the International Commission on Stratigraphy, ICS Geologic timescale, the latest age (geology), age or uppermost stage (stratigraphy), stratigraphic stage of the Paleocene epoch (geology), Epoch or series (stratigraphy), Serie ...

to the

Quaternary The Quaternary ( ) is the current and most recent of the three periods of the Cenozoic Era in the geologic time scale of the International Commission on Stratigraphy (ICS), as well as the current and most recent of the twelve periods of the ...

period. Fossils have been found all over the world.

References

{{Authority control Marine fish genera