World's largest recorded sawfish washes up dead in Florida - Livescience.com

The largest sawfish ever measured by scientists was found dead in the Florida Keys last week.

"Although it's a sad occurrence when a big animal like that dies, from a scientific standpoint we knew we could learn a lot from it," said Gregg Poulakis, a fish biologist at the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.

The record-breaking sawfish was one of two dead sawfish that washed ashore in the Keys last week, one near Cudjoe Key and the other near Marvin Key.

Citizens reported the fish via the Commission's sawfish hotline, and local law enforcement helped tow the carcasses to shore so that researchers could measure them and take tissue samples.

Little was known about them before their endangered species listing, Poulakis said.

The oldest sawfish studied by Poulakis' team so far was 14 feet (4.7 m) long and 14 years old.

The smaller of the two sawfish found dead last week was 12 feet, 4 inches (3.8 m) long and was still a juvenile, Poulakis said.

The two sawfish had no injuries or other indications of why they had died, Poulakis said.

The researchers also plan to take DNA samples, which they can compare to the DNA of the juvenile sawfish that they catch to look for relationships along the maternal line.

Anyone in Florida who sees a sawfish should report the sighting to the state sawfish hotline, Poulakis said.