Knowra Sawshark Sawshark A shark in the order Pristiophoriformes, distinguished by a long, flattened snout edged with toothlike projections. It uses sensory organs in the snout to locate prey and swings it to injure or capture them.
Rostrum : A projecting snout or beaklike structure on an animal. The sawshark’s rostrum is elongated and bears the teeth that give it its name.
Shark : A cartilaginous fish belonging to the subclass Elasmobranchii. Sawsharks are sharks, with the cartilaginous skeleton and gill structure characteristic of the group.
Common sawshark : A sawshark species, Pristiophorus cirratus, found off southern Australia. It is a well-known example of a temperate-water sawshark.
Sawfish : A ray in the family Pristidae with a long, toothed, flattened snout. Unlike sawsharks, sawfish have gill slits on the underside and lack paired snout barbels.
Ampullae of Lorenzini : Electroreceptive organs that detect weak electric fields in aquatic animals. These organs in the snout help sawsharks detect prey concealed in sediment.
Pristiophoriformes : The order of cartilaginous fishes comprising the sawsharks. This order contains all living sawshark species.
Longnose sawshark : A sawshark species, Pristiophorus cirratus, native to waters around Australia. Its notably long rostrum illustrates the range of sawshark snout forms.
Goblin shark : A deep-sea shark with an elongated, flattened snout and protrusible jaws. Its unusual snout lacks the tooth-studded saw used by sawsharks.
Lateral line : A sensory system in fishes that detects water movement and pressure changes. Alongside electroreception, this system helps locate moving prey.
Rostral teeth : Toothlike projections along the rostrum of sawsharks and sawfish. Sawshark rostral teeth are attached to the snout rather than functioning as ordinary jaw teeth.
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