A nasty-looking sawfish rostrum

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What you see in the photo is the rostrum of a sawfish, also known as carpenter sharks. These very large rays have a long, narrow, flattened rostrum with sharp transverse teeth that resemble a saw. Some species reach lengths of 7 – 7.6 metres (23–25 ft) making them among the largest of fish. There are five living species and all are highly endangered, the only remaining groups of any size existing in Northern Australia and Florida in the USA. The females give birth to 1-23 live young. The rostrum is flexible until shortly before birth when it hardens. At this point, the saws of the young have a soft cover, which falls off shortly after birth. What is really interesting is that a small percentage of the smalltooth sawfish are reproduced by parthenogenesis meaning no males are involved and the babies are clones of their mother. How cool is that?