The waters of Florida are home to some of the best fishing in the country.
Anglers never know what they might find.
And a Florida fisherman was stunned to reel in this scary prehistoric monster.
Rare prehistoric shark relative caught in Florida
Members of the University of North Florida’s Shark Biology program were fishing on the St. Mary’s River on the border with Georgia when they made a shocking find.
A student caught one of the critically endangered smalltooth sawfish after he felt it pulling on his line.
The smalltooth sawfish evolved from primitive shark species that have long been extinct.
University of North Florida professor Jim Gelsleichter entered the water to help bring in the fish.
“It was the heaviest thing I’d pulled on a drum line. When I pulled it, I was thinking: ‘Wouldn’t it be funny if it was a sawfish,’” Gelsleichter told USA Today.
The smalltooth sawfish is known for its unique appearance which features a long snout with teeth lining the exterior that make it look like a saw blade.
Dr. Grubbs, Dr. Naylor, & students caught and tagged a 13ft sawfish last month during their immersive “Biology of Sharks & Rays” course. It’s the furthest north a sawfish has been tagged in decades. Click the link to read all about this exciting encounter! https://t.co/MupWjNcdJy pic.twitter.com/kJeIOpUblc
— FSU Coastal & Marine Lab (@FSUMarineLab) July 10, 2023
The snout is used to defend themselves from other species like sharks and to help them catch large fish in large schools by thrashing from side to side.
Gelsleichter and his students released the fish after studying it.
They determined that it was a young male that was still developing.
This was only the second time in the professor’s career that he’s ever seen a smalltooth sawfish.
“I can’t even describe it,” Gelsleichter said. “For these undergraduates to get a chance to see something like this is the part of it I love the most.”
Smalltooth sawfish can grow up to 16 feet long and can weigh up to 350 pounds.
They survive on a diet of shrimp, crabs, and fish.
Smalltooth sawfish is fighting for its survival
The smalltooth is one of five types of sawfish that are members of the elasmobranch, which contain sharks, rays, and skates.
Instead of bones, they have cartilage.
They once ranged from Texas all the way up to the North Carolina coast but their numbers have been dwindling.
Smalltooth sawfish are most commonly found in shallow coastal waters but they can travel into freshwater river systems near the ocean.
They became the first marine fish to receive protection under the Endangered Species Act in 2003.
Under federal law, it’s illegal to catch, harm, harass, or kill one.
Their population plummeted from 1950 to 2000 due to loss of habit and being accidentally caught in commercial fishing.
Gelsleichter was excited about finding one because of how rare they’ve become.
“Sawfish were known to live in Northeast Florida before the population decline led to the species being listed as endangered,” Gelsleichter said. “The recurrence of sawfish in our area is a positive sign of population recovery.”
The smalltooth sawfish population has been on the rise but recently it’s been threatened by disease.
Whirling disease caused hundreds of fish including 50 sawfish to die in the waters off the Florida Keys.
“This big mortality event may be a significant setback for us in terms of recovery,” Florida State University Coastal and Marine Laboratory research director Dean Grubbs said. “It will be some time before we figure out exactly how big of a setback it was.”
Stay tuned to DeSantis Daily for more on this developing story.
