Once the sawfish has found its target, it uses the 'saw' like a swordsman. It slashes at its victim with fast sideways swipes, either stunning it or impaling it upon the teeth. Sometimes, the slashes are powerful enough to cut a fish in half.

How does a sawfish hunt?

How do sawfish hunt? Sawfish use their rostrum to sense and stun prey swimming by. This allows them to hunt even in the dark. Sawfish also use their rostrum to defend themselves from predators like crocodiles and bull sharks.

Will a sawfish attack humans?

Sawfish are thought to inhabit deeper waters more commonly as their size increases. Apart from a suspicious account of a man being sawn in half by a sawfish in eighteenth century India (The Field Book of Giant Fishes by J. R. Norman and F. C. Fraser), there are no known cases of sawfish actually killing humans.