Author: (Linnaeus, 1758)
Pristis pristis (Linnaeus, 1758)
Status in World Register of Marine Species:
Accepted name: Pristis pristis (Linnaeus, 1758) (updated 2009-06-25)
Diagnosis: 15-20 pairs of rostral teeth on saw. Two dorsal fins, about equal in shape and size, origin of the first about opposite origin of pelvic fins; caudal without a distinct lower lobe. Colour: uniform grey-ochre on back and sides, creamy-white below. Size: to about 4.5 m TL, the saw about a quarter of this.
Habitat: no definite data on species (see family); rare in northern regions, locally more common along African Atlantic coast. Food: fishes and bottom-living animals. Reproduction: ovoviviparous.
Distribution: Atlantic coasts northward to Portugal; also western Medi terranean (where records questionable). Elsewhere, southward to Angola.
Complementary iconography. Bini, 1967: 119-120, fig.