Lana’s sawsharkScientific name: Pristiophorus lanaeDepartment: Ichthyology, ima

Lana’s sawshark

Scientific name: Pristiophorus lanae
Department: Ichthyology, image © California Academy of Sciences

Lana’s sawshark is one of only seven species in the genus Pristiophorus, and the second Academy research associate Dave Ebert himself has described. Collected in 1966 off the Philippine coast, this type specimen—the specimen on which the species description is based—is slender-bodied, has five gills, and measures a little over 77 cm (30.5 in.) in length.

Due in part to the depths the species inhabits—more than 800 feet below the surface—very little is known about Lana’s sawshark. Scientists can only guess at how many there might be, where they live, or how they reproduce. However, they do know how sawsharks use their telltale snout. Like the larger and better-known sawfishes (which are actually rays), they use their rostrum like a sword, whipping it back-and-forth to stun and kill their prey.