Lana’s Sawshark

Academy research associate Dave Ebert wasn’t necessarily looking for new species when he pulled this small Philippine sawshark from the Academy's Ichthyology department shelves last year, but after comparing characteristics like the number of rostral teeth (the spikes edging the sawshark’s “snout”) to those of other specimens, Ebert realized he had a brand-new species in his hands. “It’s not quite as exciting as an Indiana Jones story,” he says, “but it’s still pretty cool.”

Pristiophorus lanae, or “Lana’s sawshark” (named after Ebert’s shark-loving niece), is one of only seven species in the genus, and the second 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.