Sawfish (largetooth and smalltooth)

How it lives

Young sawfish are born live. Largetooth pups come in litters of 1 to 13, smalltooth in litters of 7 to 14 after about 12 months. Young largetooth sawfish live in rivers and lakes for three to five years, in Australia up to about 400 km upstream, then move to estuaries and the sea. The oldest age estimated for a largetooth sawfish is about 80 years. Sawfish stay close to the bottom, in shallow water, and juveniles favour mangrove-lined estuaries. These figures come mainly from Australia and the United States, and none were found for Guinea-Bissau.

Where it goes

In Australia, young largetooth sawfish move into shallow water at night and deeper water by day. Adults have been recorded at depths of 5 to 50 m. Movement data for West Africa were not found.

We only draw a journey on the map when scientists have tracked it or clearly documented it. For this animal we have not found one yet.

Populations

Both species are Critically Endangered on the IUCN Red List (2022), and both are decreasing. Sawfishes have declined sharply in West Africa and may have vanished from much of their former range, but Guinea-Bissau is considered one of the last places where they may persist. A fisher interview study (274 people, published 2015) found that 85% could identify a sawfish from a picture. Most said they last saw one in the 1980s, though 30% of respondents in the south had seen or caught one in the decade up to and including 2012. The study does not say which species. Overfishing was the most common reason given for the decline.