Sawfish Coloring Sheet

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Learning if sawfish are born with saws is made possible by: Award-winning science curriculum by Apologia.

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Are Sawfish Born With Saws?

When my family visited the aquarium, one creature caught our attention right away. It looked like a shark with a long, jagged saw for a nose. Many people call it a “sawtooth shark.” But that name is confusing. It is not actually a shark. It is a sawfish.

That long, saw-like nose raises an important question: are sawfish born with saws?

What Is a Sawfish and How Is It Different From a Sawshark?

Before answering whether sawfish are born with saws, it helps to understand what they are.

There are two ocean creatures with saw-like snouts: the sawshark and the sawfish. A sawshark is much smaller, around five feet long. A sawfish, however, can grow over 20 feet long and weigh up to 1,200 pounds.

They also breathe differently. Sawsharks have gill slits on the sides of their heads. Sawfish have gills on the underside of their bodies and spiracles on top of their heads. Spiracles allow water to flow over their gills while they rest on the ocean floor.

Their long snout is called a rostrum. The jagged edges are not true teeth. They are dermal denticles, which are scale-like structures. On the rostrum, these are called rostral denticles.

Why Do Sawfish Have a Saw-Like Rostrum?

The sawfish uses its rostrum to find and catch prey.

Like sharks, sawfish have Ampullae of Lorenzini. These are jelly-filled pores that allow them to sense electrical currents from other creatures. The sawfish can sweep its rostrum back and forth, detecting hidden prey beneath the sand.

Once prey is detected, the rostrum becomes a tool. The sawfish can thrash it to stun prey or use it like a shovel to dig up creatures such as crabs. Then it pins the prey and eats it with its mouth on the underside of its body.

The rostrum is not used for sawing. It is designed for detection, digging, and defense.

Are Sawfish Born With Saws?

Yes, sawfish are born with saws.

Sawfish do not lay hard-shelled eggs. They are ovoviviparous. This means their babies are nourished by a yolk sac inside of the mother, not a placenta, and are born live and fully developed.

A mother sawfish can give birth to between one and fourteen pups, depending on the species.

But how does the mother avoid injury from the babies’ saw-like rostrums?

God designed an amazing protection. A baby sawfish’s rostrum is covered in a jelly-like protective sheath during birth. This sheath protects the mother and dissolves quickly after the pup is born.

So yes, sawfish are born with saws. Their miniature rostrums are already formed, carefully designed, and protected until they enter their underwater world.

Learning to Look Closely at the Details

Sawfish are often mistaken for sawsharks. But when we look closely at their size, gills, rostrum, and body shape, we see they are not sawsharks.

Just like distinguishing a sawfish from a sawshark, we can learn to look closely at details and test what we hear against truth. The Bereans in Acts 17:11 studied the Scriptures daily to see if what they were taught was true.

As we study God’s Word, we learn to tell what is true from what is false. And just like the unique design of a sawfish’s rostrum, we can trust that God’s designs are intentional and good.

Learn more about sawfish on our nature podcast for kids and families: