The grace of sawfish
Here's another critter who needs our help, although much less visible than the wolves. Sawfish are the largest species of ray. Their skin feels like sandpaper! They live in the lagoons, bays and rivers of the world, although their populations are down to 5 percent of what they used to be.
Sawfish live both in the realm of fresh and saltwater - they spend most of their time on the ocean floor eating invertebrate species. This keeps the invertebrate populations healthy and free from disease
That fearsome saw is only used for slashing their prey, and defending themselves if sharks or humans attack. They are otherwise known as gentle beasts, just like their cousins the rays - who have been called "pussycats of the sea"!
Loss of these habitats along with overfishing has resulted in their population decline. Their liver oil is used for tanning leather, medicines and soap. The last remaining population of smalltooth sawfish lives off the coast of Southern Florida. There is a specific method for cutting them loose from fishing line. These guys grow and breed slowly, so each individual counts. Check out this website for more information and flyers you can give to fisherpeople!
Florida Museum of Natural History - Icthyology
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Come to think of it I don't remember where I first heard of them - probably one of my science links on My Yahoo page, which I love (BBC, Live Science, updates etc). They stole my heart right away - I am a ray fanatic anyway. ;)
Ha - yes I was trying to picture untangling that saw from a fishing line, amputation city! But I've never heard of a single human being getting injured from a sawfish while swimming, sadly not so vice versa. I think at this point it would be a rare event even to see one. ;)
They are so cool, glad you see that too. I'm facinated by them. From what I understand, their saws can only cut large objects, I think the line is too tightly wrapped near the middle to be cut by the sharp stuff.
http://theplanetaryarchives.vox.com.
these beautiful creatures seem to be a mixture of shark, ray, and sturgeon!
Thanks so much for that - I'm really compelled by these guys and I might attempt another post on them.
By the way, how did you do that post where you insert the article, I can't figure out how to make that happen.
LMAO - perfect, we could have the mermaid version of Big Brother.