World's Largest Sawfish: Lifeless 16-Foot Female Sawfish Washes up in Florida

The largest sawfish scientists ever measured was discovered dead in the Florida Keys last week.The 16-foot-long sharp-snouted fish which is about 4.9 meters long was an adult female with eggs that has the size of softballs discovered in her reproductive tract.

The Unfortunate Incident

Scientists are now studying her carcass to determine her age and to learn more about her reproductive past. Gregg Poulakis, a fish biologist at the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission said: "Although it's an unfortunate incident when an enormous animal like that dies, from a scientific standpoint we are aware we could get some knowledge from it, that makes us feel a little bit better about losing such a big female."

The sawfish that broke the record was one of two lifeless sawfish that washed ashore in the Keys last week, one close to Cudjoe Key and the other close to Marvin Key. They were discovered far enough from each other that their death timing is most possibly coincidental, Poulakis said to Live Science.

Endangered Species

Citizens reported the fish through the hotline of the sawfish Commission, and local law enforcement aided in transporting the remains to shore so that scientists could weigh them and take tissue specimens.

Sawfish have been on the research radar of the Commission since 2003, when they were included to the U.S. federal list of endangered species. (All five species of sawfish are also included in the list as endangered or critically endangered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature.)

Ray Fish

Sawfishes are included in the types of ray fish known for their chainsaw-like snouts which are usually flat. Much was not known about them before the listing of their endangered species, Poulakis said. Now, Poulakis and other associates within the Commission and at other Florida research agencies often catch, tag, and free sawfish along the coast.

They also get about 20 to 30 reported beholdings a month from fishers and boaters. Five or six times in a year, a lifeless sawfish washes ashore. Even their remains that have partly decomposed are useful scientifically, Poulakis said: Rays' vertebrae disclose a growth line every year, much like the trunk of a tree, so by cutting the bone and calculating the lines, experts can tell the age of the animal when it died.

The Oldest Sawfish

The oldest sawfish Poulakis' team has studied so far was 4.7 m (14 feet) long and 14 years old. The smaller of the two sawfish discovered dead last week was about 12 feet, 4 inches (3.8 m) long, and was still young, said Poulakis.

She possessed undeveloped eggs in her ovaries. The 16-foot sawfish, on the other hand, was a full-grown adult. Poulakis said last week: "We're happy to see the age of the 16-footer that we got this week, my guess is that she is more than 14 years old." The two sawfish had no bruises or other signs of why they had died, Poulakis said.

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