Shark Saws - Pristis Microdon - Largetooth Jawfish

Shark Saws (Pristis Microdon) is a fish that lives in the lake. Westerners call it Largetooth Jawfish which means big toothed shark. These fish include freshwater fish that breed by ovovivipar.

Although the appearance is quite horrible, but that does not mean this fish became ruler on the Lake. The facts indicate that the population of Pristidae family members, Latin Pristis Microdon, continues to shrink. Fish that spread in Australia, India, Papua New Guinea, South Africa and Thailand are classified freshwater residents and love the tropics. Usually they live in big lakes, big rivers or certain swamps. In Indonesia shark saws are in Digul River, Mahakam River (Kalimantan), Siak River and Sepih River.

Fish that the size of the body quite large, reaching 6.6 meters is happy to prey on medium-sized fish or smaller bodies. Her mouth is shrouded with sharp teeth powerful enough to paralyze the prey in the blink of an eye. Although according to some experts, the sight of shark saws are not too good, even tend to blur. But they relied more heavily on their sense of smell.

Largetooth Jawfish has 14 to 22 saw teeth on each side, used as a food-seeking device, and also a defense tool against its enemies. Her body is relatively slender compared with similar sharks. This causes them to swim at speeds above the average and easily sped up their prey. The body of this type of shark is grayish black. The lower part of his body is more pale or whitish. And the body color is quite diverse, depending on where their habitat is.

This fish is included in the IUCN red list, which is a list of protected species because it is already threatened with extinction. The population of these fish is diminishing due to the increasingly small habitat of their lives as the human population increases. In addition, they are often hunted by fish collectors irresponsibly. Even local residents still often catch it because it is considered as a predator of other fish.

Reference :

1. Froese, Rainer, and Daniel Pauly, eds. (2009). Pristis microdon in FishBase. October 2009 version.

2. G.R. Allen, A.W. Storey, M. Yarrao : Freshwater Fishes of the Fly River. Ok Tedi Mining, Tabubil 2008, ISBN 978-0-646-49605-4.

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