Aquatic Dictionary.com - Pristis microdon defined

(Latham 1794)

Largetooth sawfish, Poisson-scie grandent, Pejesierra, Largetooth sawfish, A nokogiriei, Tag-an, Cá Dao, Papa upanga, Tubarao-serra dentuço, Small toothed saw fish, Sawfish, Ryba pila, Onyanke, Onyankle, Nga-man-swethi, Araguaguá, Smalltooth sawfish, Klein

Species Details

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Scientific Name:	Pristis microdon
Family/Order/Class:	Pristidae (Sawfishes) subFamily / Pristiformes / Elasmobranchii (sharks and rays)
Common Name:	Largetooth sawfish

Distribution:	Indo-West Pacific: East Africa to New Guinea, north to the Philippines and Viet Nam, south to Australia. Also Atlantic and eastern Pacific if Pristis perotteti and Pristis zephyreus are synonymized with this species. The original description of Pristis microdon did not give a locality, but most authors have used the name Pristis microdon for the Indo-West Pacific sawfishes of this species group as contrasted from the Atlantic Pristis perotteti and the eastern Pacific Pristis zephyreus.
Climate:	tropical; 24 - 26°C
Environment:	demersal; freshwater; brackish; marine; depth range 0 - 10 m
Description:	Inhabits sandy or muddy bottoms of shallow coastal waters, estuaries, river mouths and freshwater rivers and lakes. Usually found in turbid channels of large rivers over soft mud bottoms (Ref. 2847). Occurs in large rives and estuaries, with adults usually found in estuaries and young ascend into fresh water. Large adults can also be found in fresh water, but are rarely caught (Ref. 12693). Feeds on benthic animals and small schooling species. Ovoviviparous (Ref. 50449). The saw is used for grubbing and attacking prey as well as for defense. The saws sell as tourist souvenirs (Ref. 7248). Marketed salted.

Reference: Froese, R. and D. Pauly. Editors. 2004. FishBase. World Wide Web electronic publication. www.fishbase.org, version (05/2004) and Last, P.R. and J.D. Stevens. 1994.

Pristis microdon is a Largetooth sawfish