Pristiophorus is a genus of sawsharks found in the Pacific, Atlantic and Indian oceans. Members of this genus differ from sixgill sawsharks of the genus Pliotrema in having five gill slits. Their rostral sawteeth lack prominent transverse ridges on the basal ledges, and the large teeth are not posteriorly serrated.
Taxonomy The genus name Pristiophorus comes from Ancient Greek pristēs, meaning "saw", and -phóros, meaning "bearing".
Species There are currently seven recognized species in this genus: Pristiophorus cirratus (Latham, 1794) (Longnose sawshark) Pristiophorus delicatus Yearsley, Last & W. T. White, 2008 (Tropical sawshark) Pristiophorus japonicus Günther, 1870 (Japanese sawshark) Pristiophorus lanae Ebert & Wilms, 2013 (Lana's sawshark) Pristiophorus nancyae Ebert & Cailliet, 2011 (African dwarf sawshark) Pristiophorus nudipinnis Günther, 1870 (Shortnose sawshark) Pristiophorus peroniensis Yearsley, Last & W. T. White, 2008 (Eastern Australian sawshark) Pristiophorus schroederi S. Springer & Bullis, 1960 (Bahamas sawshark) Fossil species
Based on the Shark-References database: Pristiophorus austriacus Reinecke et al., 2020 Pristiophorus borealis Reinecke et al., 2020 Pristiophorus humboldti Villafaña, Nielsen, Klug & Kriwet, 2019 Pristiophorus lacipidinensis Adnet, 2006 Pristiophorus laevis Engelbrecht, Mörs, Reguero & Kriwet, 2016 Pristiophorus lanceolatus Davis, 1888 Pristiophorus lineatus Applegate & Uyeno, 1968 Pristiophorus napierensis Chapman, 1918 Pristiophorus palaeocenicus (Herman, 1973) Pristiophorus pricei Cappetta, Morrison & Adnet, 2019 Pristiophorus rupeliensis Steurbaut & Herman, 1978 Pristiophorus smithi Cappetta, Morrison & Adnet, 2019 Pristiophorus striatus Underwood & Schlogl, 2013 Pristiophorus suevicus Jaekel, 1890 Pristiophorus tortonicus Reinecke et al., 2020 Pristiophorus tumidens (Woodward, 1932) Pristiophorus ungeri Reinecke et al., 2020 However, Villafaña et al. (2025) noted that the smooth rostral spines used to identify fossil Pristiophorus species may not necessarily be diagnostic to just Pristiophorus, at least in South American fossil localities on the Pacific coast. The most effective way to diagnose a fossil sawshark species to Pristiophorus, and as its own species, is via the rarely-preserved oral teeth, which tend to not be associated with the rostral spines.
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