Saw-fish (common sawfly) belongs to the family of cartilaginous fish from the order of stingrays. She gained fame thanks to her appearance. Only 7 species of sawflies survived to our time: Atlantic, green, fine-toothed, European, Asian, Australian, and comb. Sawfish has an elongated shark-like body, on which there are 2 fins on each side and 2 triangular fins on the back. There are species in which the tail part as if merges with the body, and there are species with the tail fin divided into 2 parts. The pyloric skin, like that of a shark, is covered with placoid scales. It has different types of different shades of olive-gray in different species. The belly is almost white. Pictures of saw-fish well demonstrate its main advantage - a flat and long outgrowth on the snout in the form of a saw.
Quite often, sawflies are confused with one of the species of sharks, namely with the pilonos. This is not true, although sharks are among the closest relatives of stingrays. In the latter, the gills are located below, while in sharks they are on the sides. In addition, the slopes are larger in size. Basically, they reach from 4 to 5 meters in length, but seven-meter specimens are also found. A saw-shark rarely grows more than 1.5 meters. In one of the photos of the sawfish, its belly is clearly visible, on which the mouth opening and a pair of gills resemble a tearful face.
Sawfish stingrays belong to the ovoviviparous species of fish. In other words, their cub is born already formed, but in the shell of a leathery egg. The female can give birth to up to 20 babies at once. At the same time, the saw in their womb is hidden completely by the skin, at birth it is soft, and hardens only with time.
Saw fish live in all oceans, except the Arctic. Her favorite place is coastal waters; in the open ocean, she practically does not occur. Quite often, she likes to bask in shallow water, and in such a way that her dorsal fins are clearly visible above the water. Out of 7 species, 5 out of 7 species live on the coast of Australia, and indeed, the Australian sawfly has long settled in fresh river waters, where it lives without floating in the ocean. In general, all types of these stingrays feel great both in salty ocean water, and in brackish and freshwater environments. The only place where they cannot live is water contaminated with waste. During seasonal migrations, sawfish can safely swim in large rivers, this happens in summer and autumn.
This species of stingrays feeds on invertebrate benthic animals that live in silt or sand covering the bottom. And it is precisely for loosening the bottom soil that the saw cutter needs its saw. Although there is evidence that he uses his saw not only as a shovel. He can rush into, for example, a flock of mullet and wave his growth, like a saber, while hitting prey. And when she sinks to the bottom, he saw calmly eating it there.
It is generally believed that saw fish is not dangerous to humans. But still there were several cases of attack. In the Gulf of Panama, even fatal cases have been recorded. Although if you do not provoke her, that is, do not tease and attack her, then most likely she will just try to hide when a person approaches. And those who like to walk in the shallow water of the ocean, you need to know that the ramps like to bask there in the sun. Keep this in mind and try not to step on one of them. And if we talk about harm, then a person, polluting the water, does more damage to it. You should know that certain types of sawlogs are already on the verge of extinction, they are listed in the Red Book. And recently, the total number of these rays has sharply decreased. Very few people boast that they saw sawfish in their natural habitat.