Gazelle : The Palestinian Biological Bulletin (ISSN 0178 – 6288) . Number 88, April 2009, pp. 1-14. | Page 2

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The Dibba Fishermen and the Sawfish. Foto: Abdu Allah Mihrez. 08/03/2009.

The Longcomb Sawfish (Pristis zijsron Bleeker, 1851):
Common Names:
Arabic (Emirates and Oman): Sayyaf, Abu Saif, Abu Minshar.
English: Longcomb Sawfish, Narrowsnout Sawfish, Green Sawfish.
French: Poisson-scie, Requin scie.
Spanish: Pejepeine, Pez Sierra.
Sindhi (Pakistan): Wakhan.
Tamil (India): Vella-sorrah, Vezha.
Taxonomic Notes:
The genus Pristis is taxonomically chaotic with uncertainty regarding the true number
of valid species. The practical difficulties associated with resolving these taxonomic
issues are acute, since it is extremely difficult to obtain specimens or tissue samples
Gazelle – Number 88 – April 2009