Top 15 Weirdest Animals in the World
#3 Sawfish (Pristidae)
Facts
- Class: Fish
- Order: Carpenter sharks (Batoidea)
- Family: Sawfish (Pristidae)
- Distribution: Atlantic, Indo-Pacific, sometimes rivers (freshwater)
- Habitat: Coastal waters
Back and forth! What is the purpose of the built-in saw blade?!
The cartoon hero Wickie has had quite a bit of trouble with sawfish: They capsized the Viking ship in the series! While things aren't quite that dramatic in real life, the tool on this creature's face is absolutely fascinating. The "saw" is a long extension of the head, lined with sharp teeth on both sides. Biologists refer to this structure as rostrum. However, it is not made of bone, but rather of cartilage.
The rays primarily use their saw to catch prey. They swim into a school of fish and thrash around wildly in the water. This stuns or injures the prey fish, allowing the ray to leisurely feast on them from the ocean floor.
A Saw with Built-in Detective Senses
But the saw can do so much more: it acts as a kind of metal detector for the animal underwater. The skin of the saw is covered with thousands of tiny sensory organs known as Lorenzinian Ampullae (cells that detect electricity). With these, the sawfish can sense the weak electric fields emitted by every living creature. Even if a crab is completely buried in deep sand, the ray can locate it.
Threatened Giants of the Seas
Even though they may appear dangerous, these cartilaginous fish pose no threat to humans as long as they are not provoked. Unfortunately, all five known species of sawfish are currently critically endangered. The reason for this is that their long saws easily get caught in fishermen's nets, leading to their death as unintended bycatch.
Moving on to spot 4: Can you believe there's a ... jellyfish?
On the next page, you'll encounter a creature that seems like it was tossed straight from the frying pan into the sea. It resembles a perfect breakfast egg in both shape and color – but it's enormous and swims lively through the Mediterranean. Click ahead now to discover the story behind this floating fried egg!
Sources:
- The function of the sawfish's saw (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov)
- Table of Contents:
- 0. Introduction
- 1. Longhorn Cowfish
- 2. Glass Frog
- 3. Sawfish
- 4. Fried Egg Jellyfish
- 5. Streaked Tenrec
- 6. Red-Lipped Batfish
- 7. Saiga
- 8. Spook Fish
- 9. Clearwing Moth
- 10. Musk Deer
- 11. Dugong
- 12. Blue Ocean Slug
- 13. Giant Isopod
- 14. Leafy Seadragon
- 15. Leaf-Tailed Gecko
