common sawfish
Pristis pristis (Linnaeus, 1758)
Accepted species in Catalogue of Life’s 11 September 2026 base release. This preserves the source classification and available supporting data; it is not a completed species monograph.
Open encyclopedia reference
The largetooth sawfish (Pristis pristis, syn. P. microdon and P. perotteti) is a species of sawfish in the family Pristidae. It is found worldwide in tropical and subtropical coastal regions, but also enters freshwater. It has declined drastically and is now critically endangered.
A range of English names have been used for the species, or populations now part of the species, including common sawfish (despite it being far from common today), wide sawfish, freshwater sawfish, river sawfish (less frequently, other sawfish species also occur in freshwater and rivers), Leichhardt's sawfish (after explorer and naturalist Ludwig Leichhardt) and northern sawfish.
Wikipedia contributors, Largetooth sawfish; see linked history · CC BY-SA 4.0 . Plain-text lead excerpt, at most 180 words; no infobox or later sections Retrieved 2026-10-05T04:10:09.801639+00:00. This reference remains separate from the taxonomic record.
Identity & source status
- Scientific name
- Pristis pristis (Linnaeus, 1758)
- Name authority
- (Linnaeus, 1758)
- Common name
- common sawfish
- Rank
- species
- Accepted status
- accepted
- Kingdom
- Animalia
- Phylum
- Chordata
- Class
- Elasmobranchii
- Order
- Rhinopristiformes
- Family
- Pristidae
- Genus
- Pristis
- Extinction status
- Not supplied by this source
Source habitat flags: Marine: yes · Freshwater: yes · Terrestrial: no. These do not form a complete habitat description.
Classification family tree
Nested taxonomic groups from the source. This is not a direct-ancestor chain, a dated evolutionary tree or a phylogenetic reconstruction.
- domainEukaryota (Chatton, 1925) Whittaker & Margulis, 1978
- kingdomAnimalia
- phylumChordata
- subphylumVertebrata
- infraphylumGnathostomata
- parvphylumChondrichthyes
- classElasmobranchii
- subclassNeoselachii
- infraclassBatoidea
- orderRhinopristiformes
- familyPristidae Bonaparte, 1835
- genusPristis Linck, 1790
- speciesPristis pristis (Linnaeus, 1758)
Close classified relatives
These entries share the source’s genus, Pristis. They are not necessarily the closest relatives established by molecular evidence.
| Species | Classification | Source status |
|---|---|---|
| longcomb sawfishPristis zijsron Bleeker, 1851 | PristidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| smalltooth sawfishPristis pectinata Latham, 1794 | PristidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
Names & synonyms
Names explicitly linked to this accepted taxon in the source. Synonymy can change with revision.
| Recorded name | Source status |
|---|---|
| Pristis canaliculata Bloch & Schneider, 1801 Bloch & Schneider, 1801 | synonym |
| Pristis caniculata Bloch & Schneider, 1801 Bloch & Schneider, 1801 | synonym |
| Pristis microdon Latham, 1794 Latham, 1794 | synonym |
| Pristis mississippiensis Rafinesque, 1820 Rafinesque, 1820 | synonym |
| Pristis perotteti Müller & Henle, 1841 Müller & Henle, 1841 | synonym |
| Squalus pristis Linnaeus, 1758 Linnaeus, 1758 | synonym |
| Pristiopsis leichhardti Whitley, 1945 Whitley, 1945 | synonym |
| Pristis antiquorum Latham, 1794 Latham, 1794 | synonym |
| Pristis typica Poey, 1861 Poey, 1861 | synonym |
| Pristis woermanni Fischer, 1884 Fischer, 1884 | ambiguous synonym |
| Pristis zephyreus Jordan & Starks, 1895 Jordan & Starks, 1895 | synonym |
| Pristis perrotteti Müller & Henle, 1841 Müller & Henle, 1841 | synonym |
Source literature & publication evidence
References attached to this source record, including nomenclatural citations where supplied. This is a selected bibliography; abbreviated citations remain in the source’s form.
- https://www.marinespecies.org/aphia.php?p=taxdetails&id=105849 Source fields: Taxon.tsv dwc:namePublishedIn, Taxon.tsv dcterms:references
Origins, evidence & remaining research
Name authority and publication references document nomenclature where the source supplies it. They do not establish evolutionary origins or the earliest fossil occurrence.
Specimen-level evidence, morphology, ecological research, phylogenetic studies, a comprehensive bibliography and a located literary passage have not yet been compiled for this record. A suitable sourced image remains to be added.
Dataset citation & attribution
This exact taxon in ChecklistBank · Catalogue of Life 2026-09-11
Catalogue of Life 2026-09-11; dataset 316321; doi:10.48580/dgz5n. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ . Retrieved 5 October 2026.
Stable key: col:4MK2X. Classification follows source parent identifiers. English common names may vary by region.