Large-tooth sawfish
| Large-tooth sawfish | |
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Not recognized (IUCN 3.1)
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| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Chondrichthyes |
| Subclass: | Elasmobranchii |
| Order: | Pristiformes |
| Family: | Pristidae |
| Genus: | Pristis |
| Species: | P. perotteti |
| Binomial name | |
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Pristis perotteti J. P. Müller & Henle, 1841 |
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The large-tooth sawfish, Pristis perotteti, is a sawfish of the family Pristidae, found in tropical and subtropical parts of the Atlantic and east Pacific, but possibly now extirpated from most of the east Atlantic. As its relatives, it also enters freshwater, and there are records as far inland as Santarém and Lake Nicaragua. It reaches a length of up to 6.5 metres (21 ft), and the maximum published weight is 591 kilograms (1,303 lb). Recent evidence strongly suggests P. microdon is synonymous with P. pristis. Consequently, the IUCN removed P. perotteti from their list, instead recognizing it as part of the critically endangered P. pristis.
Considerable taxonomic confusion has surrounded this species. It is part of the Pristis pristis species complex, which also includes P. microdon. P. microdon has sometimes been considered synonymous with P. perotteti, and uncertainty exists over what species the scientific name P. microdon really belong to (its original description lacked a type locality). Additionally, the east Pacific population traditionally included in P. perotteti may represent a separate species.
Recent evidence strongly suggests the three are conspecific (in which case P. microdon and P. perotteti are synonyms of P. pristis), as morphological and genetic differences are lacking. Three main clades based on NADH-2 genes were evident (Atlantic, Indo-West Pacific, and East Pacific), but these do not match the distributions claimed for P. pristis (circumtropical), P. microdon (Indo-West Pacific) and P. perotteti (Atlantic and East Pacific) respectively.
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