Rare Catch: Local fisherman catches 15 ft long, 700 kg sawfish in Vijaydurg creek
The 15 ft long sawfish captured in Vijaydurg. Picture Courtesy: Nitin Naik
A local fisherman caught a rare and gigantic sawfish while fishing in the Vijaydurg creek in Sindhudurg district of Maharashtra on Sunday.
While it is not entirely uncommon for fisherman to stumble upon a sawfish – known as ‘Naalya’ among locals – in the area, they seldom manage to catch one this big.
This particular sawfish got caught in the net of local fisherman named Munir, who had to seek help just to get it outside his boat and onto the land. The sawfish Munir caught is 15 feet long and weighs around 700 kg.
As soon as the fish was brought to land, the news of the rare catch spread across the area, causing hundreds to gather at the spot to catch a glimpse of the gigantic sawfish.
According to one report, the fish can fetch Munir roughly Rs 1.5 lakh in the nearby Malvan market.
The sawfish, also known as carpenter sharks, are characterized by a long, narrow, flattened noses that are lined with sharp transverse teeth resembling a ‘saw’. They can grow as long as 23 feet in length.
The tooth-like structures protruding from the rostrum are called denticles and are not real teeth. The sawfish uses them to unearth buried crustaceans and to fight predators.
The sawfish captured at Vijaydurg had 32 denticles.
Incidentally, all species of sawfishes are listed as ‘Endangered’ or ‘Critically Endangered’ by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) due to loss of habitat and overfishing.
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