sawfish

plural sawfishes

1. Any ray (marine fish with a flat body and wing-like fins) of the family Pristidae, having a snout that resembles a saw.

   Because of their sharklike appearance, people often refer to the sawfishes as sharks. However, they are actually related to the skates and rays because the gills are ventral, the eyes are on top of the head, and the pectoral fins are attached to the head.

   2006, Glenn R. Parsons, Sharks, Skates, and Rays of the Gulf of Mexico: A Field Guide, page 123

   2 more examples

   2002, Maurice Burton, Robert Burton, Sawfish, entry in International Wildlife Encyclopedia, Volume 16: Rifleman - sea slug, page 2238, The sawlike snout that gives the sawfish its common name may represent up to one-third of its total body length. Despite its sharklike shape, the sawfish is more closely related to rays.

   Smalltooth sawfish native to rivers in south-west Florida appear to have given birth without sex – essentially cloning themselves. The sawfish (Pristis pectinata) – a type of ray that grows up to 7 metres long – is a critically endangered species.[…]The sawfish is the first vertebrate shown to use parthenogenesis in the wild.

   2015 June 6, “Sawfish babies don’t need a dad”, in New Scientist, number 3024, archived from the original on 05 Sep 2015, page 17