Endangered smalltooth sawfish, marine creatures virtually unchanged for millions of years, are showing erratic behavior, spinning around and dying in unusual numbers in Florida waters
Endangered smalltooth sawfish, marine creatures virtually unchanged for millions of years, are exhibiting erratic spinning behavior and dying in unusual numbers in Florida waters. Federal and state wildlife agencies are beginning an effort to rescue and rehabilitate sawfish to find out why. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration announced what it calls an “emergency response” focused on the Florida Keys starting next week.
news release called the effort unprecedented. “If the opportunity presents itself, this would be the first attempt ever to rescue and rehabilitate smalltooth sawfish from the wild,” said Adam Brame, Fisheries’ sawfish recovery coordinator. Sawfish, related to rays, skates and sharks, are named for their elongated, flat snout that contains a row of teeth on each side. They can live for decades and grow quite large, some as long as 16 feet . They were once found all along the Gulf of Mexico and southern Atlantic coasts in the U.S., but now are mainly in southwestern Florida and the Keys island chain as their habitats shrink. A related species is found off Australia.
has a tipline at 844-4-Sawfish and FWC has an email, [email protected]. In recent years, threatened manatees also suffered a major die-off in Florida waters as pollution killed much of their seagrass food source. State and federal officials fed tons of lettuce to manatees that gathered in winter outside a power plant for two years, and the manatee numbers have rebounded some with 555 deaths recorded in 2023 compared with a record 1,100 in 2021.
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Sawfish are spinning, and dying, in Florida waters as rescue effort beginsEndangered smalltooth sawfish, marine creatures virtually unchanged for millions of years, are showing erratic behavior, spinning around and dying in unusual numbers in Florida waters.
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Sawfish are spinning, and dying, in Florida waters as rescue effort beginsEndangered smalltooth sawfish, marine creatures virtually unchanged for millions of years, are showing erratic behavior, spinning around and dying in unusual numbers in Florida waters.
Read more »
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