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Pristiophorus japonicus Günther, 1870

Japanese sawshark
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Pristiophorus japonicus   AquaMaps   Data sources: GBIF OBIS
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Image of Pristiophorus japonicus (Japanese sawshark)
Pristiophorus japonicus
Picture by FAO

Classification / Names Common names | Synonyms | Catalog of Fishes(genus, species) | ITIS | CoL | WoRMS | Cloffa

Elasmobranchii (sharks and rays) > Pristiophoriformes (Saw sharks) > Pristiophoridae (Saw sharks)
Etymology: Pristiophorus: pristio-, presumably derived from prio (Gr.), to saw, but treated here as a noun (a saw); phorus, from phoreus (Gr.), bearer or carrier, referring to saw-like snout (note also that pristis is Greek for sawfish). (See ETYFish);  japonicus: -icus (L.), belonging to: Japan, where type locality (not specified) is situated. (See ETYFish).
More on author: Günther.

Environment: milieu / climate zone / depth range / distribution range Ecology

Marine; demersal; depth range 0 - 500 m (Ref. 54710). Deep-water; 48°N - 22°N, 118°E - 145°E (Ref. 54710)

Distribution Countries | FAO areas | Ecosystems | Occurrences | Point map | Introductions | Faunafri

Northwest Pacific: Japan, Korea, northern China. Does not occur in the Western Central Pacific (Ref. 31368).

Size / Weight / Age

Maturity: Lm ?  range ? - ? cm
Max length : 136.0 cm TL (female)

Short description Identification keys | Morphology | Morphometrics

Pristiophorus japonicus has a long, narrow, and narrowly tapering rostrum (rostrum length is 26-29% of TL), distance from rostral tip to barbels about equal or slightly greater than distance from barbels to mouth (1:1.1-1.2); distance from rostral barbels to nostrils about equal to distance from nostrils to 1st gill slits. About 15-26 large rostral teeth on each side of the rostrum in front of the barbels, 9-17+ behind them; distance from mouth to nostrils 1.1-1.2 times internarial space. Tooth rows 34-58 in upper jaw. Dorsal and pectoral fins covered with denticles in large specimens. Lateral trunk denticles largely unicuspidate. First dorsal fin origin behind free rear tips of pectorals by eye length or more (Ref. 247). Caudal fin almost straight, with slender upper and lower lobes; pectoral well developed but are not ray-like (Ref. 6871).

Biology     Glossary (e.g. epibenthic)

Lives on continental shelves and upper slopes on or near the bottom. Also found in coastal waters on sand or mud bottoms. Feeds on small bottom organisms using its barbels to poke the bottom with its snout. Ovoviviparous, with 12 young in a litter.

Life cycle and mating behavior Maturities | Reproduction | Spawnings | Egg(s) | Fecundities | Larvae

Ovoviviparous, embryos feed solely on yolk (Ref. 50449).

Main reference Upload your references | References | Coordinator : Compagno, Leonard J.V. | Collaborators

Compagno, L.J.V., 1984. FAO Species Catalogue. Vol. 4. Sharks of the world. An annotated and illustrated catalogue of shark species known to date. Part 1 - Hexanchiformes to Lamniformes. FAO Fish. Synop. 125(4/1):1-249. Rome, FAO. (Ref. 247)

IUCN Red List Status (Ref. 130435)

  Least Concern (LC) ; Date assessed: 27 August 2019

CITES

Not Evaluated

CMS (Ref. 116361)

Not Evaluated

Threat to humans

  Harmless





Human uses

Fisheries: commercial
FAO - Fisheries: species profile; Publication: search | FishSource |

More information

Trophic ecology
Food items
Diet compositions
Food consumptions
Food rations
Predators
Ecology
Ecology
Population dynamics
Growths
Max. ages / sizes
Length-weight rel.
Length-length rel.
Length-frequencies
Mass conversions
Recruitments
Abundances
Life cycle
Reproduction
Maturities
Fecundities
Spawnings
Spawning aggregations
Egg(s)
Egg developments
Larvae
Larval dynamics
Distribution
Countries
FAO areas
Ecosystems
Occurrences
Introductions
BRUVS - Videos
Anatomy
Gill areas
Brains
Otoliths
Physiology
Body compositions
Nutrients
Oxygen consumptions
Swimming type
Swimming speeds
Visual pigment(s)
Fish sounds
Diseases / Parasites
Toxicities (LC50s)
Genetics
Genetics
Electrophoreses
Heritabilities
Human related
Aquaculture systems
Aquaculture profiles
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Ciguatera cases
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References
References

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Internet sources

AFORO (otoliths) | Aquatic Commons | BHL | Cloffa | BOLDSystems | Websites from users | Check FishWatcher | CISTI | Catalog of Fishes: genus, species | DiscoverLife | ECOTOX | FAO - Fisheries: species profile; Publication: search | Faunafri | Fishipedia | Fishtrace | GenBank: genome, nucleotide | GloBI | Google Books | Google Scholar | Google | IGFA World Record | MitoFish | National databases | Otolith Atlas of Taiwan Fishes | PubMed | Reef Life Survey | Socotra Atlas | Tree of Life | Wikipedia: Go, Search | World Records Freshwater Fishing | Zoobank | Zoological Record

Estimates based on models

Preferred temperature (Ref. 123201): 7.7 - 21.8, mean 17.4 °C (based on 199 cells).
Phylogenetic diversity index (Ref. 82804):  PD50 = 0.5156   [Uniqueness, from 0.5 = low to 2.0 = high].
Bayesian length-weight: a=0.00389 (0.00180 - 0.00842), b=3.12 (2.94 - 3.30), in cm total length, based on all LWR estimates for this body shape (Ref. 93245).
Trophic level (Ref. 69278):  3.8   ±0.58 se; based on food items.
Resilience (Ref. 120179):  Low, minimum population doubling time 4.5 - 14 years (Fec=12).
Fishing Vulnerability (Ref. 59153):  Very high vulnerability (82 of 100).
Price category (Ref. 80766):   High.