Sawfish Secrets in Natural History Collections

Sawfish are a family of rays characterized by a long, narrow, flattened rostrum, or nose extension, lined with sharp transverse teeth, arranged in a way that resembles a saw. These endangered species are found worldwide in tropical and subtropical regions in coastal marine and brackish estuarine waters, as well as freshwater rivers and lakes. Known for thousands of years, sawfish have played important roles in cultural ceremonies and myths throughout the world. They have been found buried in Mayan graves and lie in storage in many natural history museums, including the Natural History Society of Maryland.

Annmarie Fearing has been “digging” up these saw fish rostrum in natural history collections throughout the world, and performing DNA sequencing to learn more about the species. The project focuses on the conservation genetics of Laregtooth Sawfish, Pristis pristis. Recentyl, six specimen from NHSM collection joined the study. Students from the Farina Lab at Howard University visited to take samples which are currently being processed. Annmarie’s talk will focus on her Ph.D. research which is a genetic assessment of Largetooth Sawfish populations over the 20^th century, how they use natural history specimens to gather tissue samples from historic populations of this species that were found in countries all over the world.