Sawfish!

I FINALLY saw a sawfish! Seeing a sawfish has been on my Keys bucket list since I learned about them. I’ve spent hours and hours searching the mangroves for one. They’re so unique looking, there’s nothing else like them. Most of my friends here spend their days on the water diving & paddling and few have seen a sawfish. I’ve been lucky to see this one twice and I’ll be back to visit it again before we leave!

(read on for pics and a video!)

Fast Facts

• Sawfish are rays despite some of their shark-like features.
• Sawfish generally have 22-29 unpaired teeth on their ‘saw.’
• The smalltooth sawfish is critically endangered due to overfishing and destruction of habitat. Young sawfish rely on mangroves for protection and coastal development has decimated their habitat and population.
• Smalltooth sawfish were the first species to receive federal protection under the Endangered Species Act in 2003. It is illegal to catch, harm, harass, or kill them.
• Report all sawfish sightings by calling or emailing:
  • E-mail: Sawfish@MyFWC.com
  • Telephone: 941-255-7403 or 844-472-9347 (1-844-4SAWFISH)
• Smalltooth sawfish used to be found from New York to Florida and throughout the Gulf of Mexico to Texas. They are now limited to South Florida.
• Smalltooth sawfish can grow to a length of 20ft!
• Sawfish don’t reach sexual maturity for 7 years, around the time they reach 11ft in length. Females give birth to 10-20 sawfish at a time and can reproduce every other year.
• They’re about 2 feet long when they’re born. Females give live birth and the baby sawfish are immediately self-sufficient.
• Given the time to sexual maturity, small litters, and infrequency of reproduction it’s easy to see how overfishing and destruction of habitat almost drove them to extinction.
• The rostrum (saw) of the smalltooth sawfish is used to stir up and stun prey in low visibility waters.