The Largetooth Sawfish, Pristis pristis (Linnaeus, 1758), is not extirpated from Peru: new records from Tumbes

Abstract

The Largetooth Sawfish, Pristis pristis, was for a long time considered extirpated from Peru. However, here we report the capture of 2 individuals from the north coast of Peru, indicating that this species is still extant in Peruvian waters. Both individuals were adult-sized and their encounters occurred during the austral summer, which could indicate a seasonal presence in those waters. Gillnets are still a major threat for the species as both specimens were incidentally captured with this gear. Our finding highlights the need for continuous research, awareness, and legal protection of this species.

Full text

The Largetooth Sawsh, Pristis pristis (Linnaeus, 1758), is not
extirpated from Peru: new records from Tumbes
Alejandra Mendoza,1 Shaleyla Kelez,1 Wilmer Gonzales Cherres,2 Rossana Maguiño1
1 ecOceánica, Copernico 179, San Borja, Lima 41, Peru. 2 Asociacion de Pescadores Artesanales para Consumo Humano Directo de La Cruz,
Caleta La Cruz, Tumbes, Peru.
Corresponding author: Alejandra Mendoza, alejandra.mendoza@ecoceanica.org
Abstract
The Largetooth Sawsh, Pristis pristis, was for a long time considered extirpated from Peru. However, here we report
the capture of 2 individuals from the north coast of Peru, indicating that this species is still extant in Peruvian waters.
Both individuals were adult-sized and their encounters occurred during the austral summer, which could indicate a
seasonal presence in those waters. Gillnets are still a major threat for the species as both specimens were incidentally
captured with this gear. Our nding highlights the need for continuous research, awareness, and legal protection of
this species.
Key words
Tropical Eastern Pacic; bycatch; Pristidae; northern Peru; critically endangered species.
Academic editor: Arturo Angulo Sibaja | Received 15 March 2017 | Accepted 24 May 2017 | Published 4 August 2017
Citation: Mendoza A, Kelez S, Cherres WG, Maguiño R (2017) The Largetooth Sawsh, Pristis pristis (Linnaeus, 1758), is not extirpated from
Peru: new records from Tumbes. Check List 13 (4): 261–265. https://doi.org/10.15560/13.4.261
Check List 13 (4): 261–265
https://doi.org/10.15560/13.4.261
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Mendoza et al
Copyright Mendoza et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY 4.0), which permits unrestricted
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Introduction
All extant sawshes belong to the family Pristidae,
which includes the genera Anoxypristis White & Moy-
Thomas, 1941 and Pristis Linck, 1790 (Compagno and
Cook 1995). The genus Anoxypristis only has 1 species:
the Knifetooth Sawsh, Anoxypristis cuspidata (Latham,
1794); the genus Pristis includes 4 species: Largetooth
Sawsh, Pristis pristis (Linnaeus, 1758); Smalltooth
Sawsh, Pristis pectinata Latham, 1794; Dwarf Sawsh,
Pristis clavata Garman, 1906); and Green Sawsh, Pris-
tis zijsron Bleeker, 1851 (Faria et al. 2013).
Sawshes live in shallow coastal waters usually at
depths up to 20 m but as deep as 122 m (Harrison and
Dulvy 2014). They can tolerate wide ranges of salinity
and thus can be found in continental waters and estuaries.
For example, they can swim far up into large rivers and
have been found in lakes in South America, Africa, and
Southeast Asia (Harrison and Dulvy 2014).
Pristis pristis is morphologically characterized by the
rst dorsal n located in front of the origin of the pelvic
ns, the presence, in all stages of growth, of the lower
lobe of the caudal n, and by having a shorter and wider
rostrum than the other species of Pristis (Faria et al.
2013). Recent studies have shown that P. perotteti from
the Atlantic Ocean and P. microdon from the western
Indo-Pacic Ocean are synonyms of P. pristis. This euro-
haline species, as currently dened, has a circumtropical
geographic distribution with 4 genetically dierentiated
populations: eastern Pacic, western Atlantic, eastern
Atlantic, and western Indo-Pacic Ocean (Faria et al.
2013).
NOTES ON GEOGRAPHIC DISTRIBUTION

262 Check List 13 (4)
Apparently, populations of P. pristis have been
reduced considerably from their former abundances
throughout their range (Carlson et al. 2013a). According
to Carlson et al. (2013a), the eastern Pacic population
was formerly distributed from the Gulf of Mexico to
Peru, but until 2013 only a few records existed from the
Pacic coast of Nicaragua, Panama and Colombia. There-
fore, Carlson et al. (2013a) argued that there had been a
considerable population decline based on the retraction
of the extent of occurrence of ≥ 80% over a 3-generation
period. A major threat to P. pristis in the eastern Pacic
is the decline of mangrove habitats that are utilized as
nurseries, for reproduction, and feeding grounds. Other
pervasive threats are longline sheries for sharks and
coastal gillnets (Carlson et al. 2013a). Consequently, the
International Union for Conservation of Nature listed this
species and all other sawsh species as Critically Endan-
gered (Kyne et al. 2013). Pristis pristis is also included in
Appendix 1 of the Convention on International Trade in
Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, as well as
in Appendix 1 of the Convention on the Conservation of
Migratory Species of Wild Animals (CMS).
In Peru, occurrence data on sawshes are relatively
scarce. Until 1920, P. pristis was not reported in Peru,
but Nichols and Murphy (1922) mentioned that sher-
men already knew of it there. Chirichigno and Cornejo
(2001) listed the genus Pristis from Peruvian waters and
reported 2 species: P. microdon and Pristis pectinatus (a
synonymous of P. pectinata). Chirichigno and Cornejo
(2001) mentioned that both of these species occur in
Tumbes, northern Peru; however, the report of P. pecti-
natus by Chirichigno and Cornejo (2001) was likely a
misidentication of P. pristis, because we now know that
P. pectinata only occurs in the Atlantic Ocean (Carlson
et al. 2013b). In addition, there is undated photographic
evidence showing sawsh specimens captured in Cabo
Blanco and Punta Sal (Fig. 1) (Dr Matthew McDavitt
pers. comm.). The most recent reports for Pristis species
Figure 1. Map showing the locations of Pristis pristis recorded in Peru. Circles are previous reports of landings: mouth of the Tumbes River
(Chirichigno and Cornejo 2001), Punta Sal and Cabo Blanco (McDavitt pers. comm. 2016). Squares show new landing reports: Caleta La Cruz
(2014) and Cancas (2015), both in the Department of Tumbes. Map created using Maptool (Seaturtle.org 2002).

Mendoza et al. | Sawsh in Peru 263
in Peru come from information collected by researchers
from the Instituto del Mar del Peru between 1996 and
2005 in the Tumbes Region (Llanos et al. 2010), but
these reports are without specic information. However,
an author of this report (Carlos Inga, pers. comm.) men-
tioned that sawsh remains were observed only up to the
1990s.
Nonetheless, until a decade ago the international sci-
entic community thought that sawshes did not occur
in Peru (Compagno and Cook 1995, Compagno and
Cook 2005). Following Faria et al. (2013), who included
P. pristis from Peru based on previous works listing the
species in Peruvian waters, subsequent scientic and
technical publications also listed this species from Peru
but without more precise distributional data and cited
it as a historical distribution given the absence of con-
rmed records for more than 10 years. As a result, many
researchers believed that the species had been extirpated
from Peru (Carlson et al. 2013a, Dulvy et al. 2014, Har-
rison and Dulvy 2014).
According to shermen from Cancas and Caleta La
Cruz (Fig. 1), sawshes used to be abundant along the
north coast of Peru, but due to overshing, they have now
almost disappeared. Overshing was driven by the high
valued in Peru of sawsh teeth using in cockghting as
articial spurs tted to the birds’ feet as a competitive
advantage during ghts (McDavitt 2014). In addition,
sawshes are not protected by the Peruvian legislation,
so the capture and commercialization of this species is
not illegal.
The objective of this study was to update the presence
of P. pristis in Peru by reporting 2 recent records.
Methods
The area of interest is located along the coast of the depart-
ment of Tumbes (Fig. 1), in the Guayaquil ecoregion of
the Tropical East Pacic Marine Province (Spalding et
al. 2007). The coastline of Tumbes includes 2 mangrove
systems that are fed by the waters of the Tumbes and
Zarumilla rivers (Angulo 2014).
On 22 January 2014, 1 specimen of P. pristis was inci-
dentally captured in our nets during commercial shing (by
Wilmer Gonzales Cherres) and taken to the landing site at
La Cruz, Tumbes (Fig. 1, Table 1). The sawsh was caught
at dawn with a gillnet o Playa Hermosa. It was later
butchered and its teeth were sold (Table 1). This specimen
measured approximately 350 cm in total length (TL), the
rostrum 100 cm, and the body without rostrum weighed
146 kg (Fig. 2). The specimen was a gravid female, con-
taining yellow and spherical eggs similar to those of the
Pacic Angel Shark, Squatina californica Ayres, 1859.
On 14 February 2015 (9:00 h), we received a call
from a shermen informing us that a sawsh was being
brought alive to the Cancas dock in the district of Canoas
de Punta Sal, Tumbes (Fig. 1, Table 1). The rst author
moved to the site and at 11:00 h the boat arrived with
the specimen. It measured approximately 6 m TL, but
the sex could not be determined (Fig. 3). The sh was
incidentally caught by the boat during a gillnet sh-
ing trip in front of El Bravo beach (Fig. 1). Once at the
dock, shermen Richard Pingo Antón, Luis Pingo Antón,
Baltazar Fiestas Querevalu, and Tomas Pingo Chiroque
called the authorities to decide what to do with the saw-
sh since they were unfamiliar with the regulation on
its capture, but they knew that it was a rare nd. They
decided to release the individual, which was carried out
in the presence of the Director of the Regional Direc-
torate of Production of Tumbes (DIREPRO Tumbes), a
representative of the General Directorate of Coast Guard
(DICAPI), and A. Mendoza, a representative of our non-
prot organization ecOceánica, all who signed the Act of
Liberation drafted by DIREPRO Tumbes. The individual
was released at 12:40 h on the same day.
Results
Both specimens were identied as P. pristis (Figs. 2, 3)
based on the following combination of distinctive char-
acters: origin of the rst dorsal n anterior to the pelvic
n origin and presence of a lower caudal n lobe (Faria et
al. 2014).The specic identication of the specimens also
was conrmed using photographs by the sawsh special-
ist Dr Peter Kyne, from Charles Darwin University.
Discussion
In Peru, the last year that sawshes were observed was
1999 (Carlos Inga pers. comm.). Since then, a couple of
publications reported the presence of sawshes in Peru
based on Chirichigno and Cornejo (2001). The National
Action Plan for the Conservation and Management of
Sharks, Rays and Related Species in Peru (PRODUCE
2014) mentions 2 species of Pristidae but without
Table 1. New records of Pristis pristis in Peru including capture data and the fate of the individuals.
Date Landing site Latitude Longitude Size TL cm Sex Fate
January 22, 2014 La Cruz, Tumbes –3.6362 –80.5996 350 female Dead, teeth sold
February 14, 2015 Cancas, Tumbes –3.9445 –80.9400 600 unknown Liberated alive
Figure 2. Sawsh landed dead at La Cruz, Tumbes, on 22 January
2014.

264 Check List 13 (4)
specifying them. The other publication is a revised list
of Chondrichthyans in Peru (Cornejo et al. 2015), which
included P. pristis and P. pectinata. Given that the inclu-
sion of this species in PRODUCE (2014) and Cornejo et
al. (2015) are the result of literature reviews and are not
based on eld surveys, the documentation here of 2 new
specimens provide the rst empirical records of P. pristis
in Peru since 1999.
These records demonstrate that P. pristis is not extir-
pated from Peru, and they highlight the need to identify
and protect critical habitats that could contribute to sawsh
conservation. There is additional anecdotal information.
On 2 March 2017, a new specimen was captured in a gill-
net and landed dead in Mancora (J. Guerrero Chinchay,
Mancora Dock Manager, pers. comm). The 3 reports of
P. pristis are from the same area where Chirichigno and
Cornejo (2001) had earlier reported it (Fig. 1). The spatial
distribution of this species in Peru would seem to extend
from the Ecuadorian border to Cabo Blanco (Fig. 1).
The capture of a specimen of P. pristis in the Pacic
waters of southern Ecuador was also reported in July
2014. The individual (506 cm TL) was landed in the port
of Santa Rosa de Salinas (Universidad Laica Eloy Alfaro
de Manabi 2014). This record shows that this species is
not extirpated from Ecuador either, and would suggest that
there is still a small extant population between southern
Ecuador and northern Peru, an area where river mouths
form mangrove estuaries. These data, coupled with pre-
vious reports from Nicaragua, Panama and Colombia
(Carlson et al. 2013a) give support to the premise that the
distribution of this species is continuous from northern
Peru to Nicaragua.
The size at sexual maturity of P. pristis is 300 cm for
females and 280–300 cm for males (Dulvy et al. 2014).
Therefore, the 2 observations in Peru, and 1 in Ecuador,
suggest that this part of the Eastern Pacic, adjacent to
mangroves, is used by adults and reproductively active
females. Moreover, it is possible that the better-preserved
mangrove habitats of northern Peru could be preferred
by sawsh in the southeast Pacic. On the other hand, the
seasonality of the 3 encounters in Peru (late January to
early March) may imply that the presence of this species
in Peru represents a seasonal migration from its core area
in Central America as postulated by Kyne et al. (2014).
However, the observation in July of the individual in
Ecuador is not in agreement with the seasonal migration
hypothesis. In this regard, more research is needed to
understand the habitat use and phenology of this species.
Gillnets are a major threat to the survival of sawshes
as all 3 individuals recorded recently in Peru were cap-
tured using this gear. As we have observed in the eld,
many shers in northern Peru set their nets at night and
check them in the morning, leaving them long periods
unattended. This practice can have deleterious collateral
impacts as they capture non-target species that will likely
drown, be depredated, or suer post-release mortality
from stress.
Now that P. pristis is conclusively known not to be
locally extinct in Peru, there is a need for further research
on this species, to put the sawsh on the agenda of the
Peruvian government, to promote their conservation
through environmental education, and to seek national
legislation to give the species full legal protection.
Acknowledgements
To the shermen from Cancas: Richard Pingo Antón,
Luis Pingo Antón, Baltazar Fiestas Querevalu, and Tomas
Pingo Chiroque for liberated the specimen found in front
of Playa Hermosa. To Dr Matthew T. McDavitt for the
historic photographic material. To Dr Peter Kyne for the
verication of the specimens as Pristis pristis and for
providing literature. To Lisa E. Poser and Catherine M.
McClellan for providing edits that improved the manu-
script.
Authors’ Contributions
AM, WGC and RM collected the data, AM and SK wrote
the text.
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