In Search Of Sawfish
Posted by: Loren Coleman on August 9th, 2009
Largetooth sawfish.
“Scientists will spend the next three months looking for what may be a phantom with fins,” begins the Tampa Tribune article on a new study and search for information on sawfish off the coast of North America.
The quest is on for sightings of both the largetooth (Pristis microdon) and the smalltooth sawfish (Pristis pectinata). Smalltooth seem to still be around, but people are not so sure of the largetooth.
At one time, the largetooth inhabited shallow coastal waters along the Gulf Coast but the last was seen in Florida in 1941 and in Texas in 1943, Norton said. It has been even longer since one was spotted off Louisiana.
The fish are still believed to be in waters from South America to Mexico and some may make it to waters off the Texas coast.
A sawtooth fish swims at the Florida Aquarium. The cousin of the largetooth sawfish, the smalltooth, still can be found, the last largetooth was seen during World War II, said Shelley Norton, program manager with the Fisheries Service.
The University of Florida is seeking the public’s help in tracking the rare smalltooth sawfish. What information should you report?
• Your name, phone number and e-mail address
• Date, time and location of the encounter
• Number, size and behavior of the sawfish
• Your activity at the time, such as fishing, boating or diving
• Information on any tags, scars or other distinguishing marks
For information about sawfish and the recovery program, go to here (also, see form here).
About Loren Coleman
Loren Coleman is one of the world’s leading cryptozoologists, some say “the” leading living cryptozoologist. Certainly, he is acknowledged as the current living American researcher and writer who has most popularized cryptozoology in the late 20th and early 21st centuries.
Starting his fieldwork and investigations in 1960, after traveling and trekking extensively in pursuit of cryptozoological mysteries, Coleman began writing to share his experiences in 1969. An honorary member of Ivan T. Sanderson’s Society for the Investigation of the Unexplained in the 1970s, Coleman has been bestowed with similar honorary memberships of the North Idaho College Cryptozoology Club in 1983, and in subsequent years, that of the British Columbia Scientific Cryptozoology Club, CryptoSafari International, and other international organizations. He was also a Life Member and Benefactor of the International Society of Cryptozoology (now-defunct).
Loren Coleman’s daily blog, as a member of the Cryptomundo Team, served as an ongoing avenue of communication for the ever-growing body of cryptozoo news from 2005 through 2013. He returned as an infrequent contributor beginning Halloween week of 2015.
Coleman is the founder in 2003, and current director of the International Cryptozoology Museum in Portland, Maine.
Sawsharks, huh? While not as exciting as some other marine mysteries I can think of, it would still be nice to know that these buggers are hanging on in US coastal waters.
Just how much difference is there between the largetooth and the smalltooth? Are we talking size of the fish, length of the saw, what?
I always liked these critters, just never looked into them too in depth.
I was JUST in south texas on vacation. Didn’t spot any, though I did go fishing 6 of the 7 days we were there. I’ll have my friends down there keep their eyes peeled (they’re all avid fishermen and on the water at least 4 – 5 days a week).