Blog

Dissection of a sawfish

Dissection of a sawfish

Dissecting for a deeper understanding My SARA internship experience Madison Baker (The University of Adelaide) As part of my science internship with...

East Coast sawfish

East Coast sawfish

There it was! For many people what we were looking at was probably meaningless but for me it meant the world. We were in Rinyirru (Lakefield)...

8 sawfish

8 sawfish

Earlier in 2023 we received a donation of eight juvenile narrow sawfish Anoxypristis cuspidata that had died as part of an accident. The animals are...

Interns and volunteers wanted

Sharks And Rays Australia (SARA) is seeking to fill the following positions: One social media intern, to look after our facebook page. You will...

A saw returned

A saw returned

A saw returned In March 2022 Barbara received a message from a friend. He had found an old sawfish saw in a local op shop in Cairns, and wanted her...

Spotters t-shirts

What are sawfish spotters? Have you noticed some very cool looking people recently, wearing the SARA Sawfish Spotter's t-shirts? We are very proud...

The art of Rod Lucas

The art of Rod Lucas

In March 2022, i (Barbara) visited Karumba for a Queensland Fisheries meeting. During a break at the meeting, Rod Lucas popped in! I had never...

Media involving our team

February 2022: Cosmos Magazine. Old photos provide key details in bid to save sawfish. Link

February 2022: Good news Fraser Coast. Historic photo found at Hervey Bay Museum. Link

June 2022: Cape York NRM. LandsCAPE magazine. Sawfish monitoring raises new concerns. Link

September 2022: Cape York Weekly. Cape’s citizen scientists can help sawfish search. Edition 101, sept 13, 2022. P. 12. Link

October 2022: Cape York Weekly. East coast sawfish find brings joy to researchers. Edition 105 October 11, 2022. P. 2. Link

November 2021: Sawfish research team visit Kowanyama. Kowanyama Project News Issue 6. By Vivian Sinnamon.

October 2021: ABC News Far North. Indigenous rangers, scientists call for change of status for endangered sawfish. Link

October 2021: ABC Queensland Saturday breakfast radio. Rare sawfish find links cultural past with conservation future. Link

September 2021: Radio interview BEW. How to conduct research in croc infested waters. ABC Far North Radio. Mornings with Phil Stanley. Link

August 2021: ABC Wide Bay. People power needed to help bring endangered sawfish back from brink of extinction. Link

August 2021: 7 News Toowoomba. Evening News video. Link

August 2021: Press release by USC. Study seeks photos, sightings to save iconic sawfish. Link

February 2020: Press release by Science in Public. You saw sawfish! Link

October 2019: ABC National. Sawfish used to be plentiful around Australia’s coastline, but their numbers have dropped off a cliff. Link

October 2019: The Guardian Australia. Sawfish numbers in global stronghold are dropping, prompting calls for fishing protection. Link

January 2019: ABC Perth, Pictures of sawfish – dead or alive – needed from citizen scientists to help understand decline. Link

January 2019: SBS online. Experts warn Australian sawfish close to dying out. Link

January 2019: The West, Australian sawfish close to extinction. Link

January 2019: SARA & Science in Public press release. Link.

Win TV FNQ local news January 08, 2019

ABC News on the 24 hr News channel, January 09, 2019

 

November 2018: ABC News on a fatal shark bite incident in Cid Harbour, Whitsundays, Qld. Link

October 2018: Australian geographic voices experts opinions on shark attacks Link

September 2017: Australian Geographic. Dr Wueringer is interviewed for an article on the rescue of 40 sawfish pups in the NT. Link

 

July 2017: Australian Geographic. The endangered sawfish. Gallery displaying a saw-less sawfish we caught in the same month. Link

 

 

March 2017: New Scientist. Sawfishes fearsome snout evolved to be undetectable to prey. Link

March 2017: Brisbane times. Study of Australian sawfish shows its weaponized razor-edged snout is a stealth killer. Link

March 2017: Australian Geographic. Sawfish are the ultimate stealth hunters. Link

August 2014: Australian geographic. Sawfish uses snout to find and stun prey.  Link

June 2011: National Geographic. Sawfish snout has a sixth sense. Link

Publications

Scientific Publications:

2024

  • Inglebrecht J, Morgan DL, O’Lear K, Wueringer BE. 2023. Close-kin population genetic assessment of Criticlly-Endangered green sawfish Pristis zijsron in Western Australia. Accepted for publication May 2024.
  • Biskis, VN, Wueringer, BE, Holmes, BJ, & Townsend, KA. Using rostral morphometrics to access size class information from historical sawfish specimens. Submitted in November 2023.

2023

  • Haque AB, Charles R, D’Anastasi B, Dulvy NK, Faria V, Fordham S, Grant MI, Harry AV, Jabado RW, Lear KO, Morgan DL, Tanna A, Wakhida Y, Wueringer, BE. 2023. Anoxypristis cuspidataThe IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2023: e.T39389A58304073. Link

  • Wueringer BE, Biskis N, Pinkus G. 2023. Impacts of trophy collection and commercial fisheries on sawfishes in Queensland, Australia. Endangered Species Research. Link

2022

  • Abrantes K, Barnett A, Soetaert M, Kune PM, Laird A, Squire L, Seymour J, Wueringer BE, Sleeman J, Hueveneers C. 2021. Potential of electric fields to reduce bycatch of highly threatened sawfishesEndang Species Res. 46: 121-135. Link
  • Espinoza M, Bonfil-Sanders R, Carlson J, Charvet P, Chevis M, Dulvy NK, Everett B, Faria V, Ferretti F, Fordham S, Grant MI, Haque AB, Harry AV, Jabado RW, Jones, GCA, Kelez S, Lear KO, Morgan DL, Phillips NM, Wueringer BE. 2022. Pristis pristisThe IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2022: e.T18584848A58336780. Link
  • Fetterplace LC, Delgado Esteban JJ, Pini-Fitzsimmons J, Gaskell J, Wueringer BE. 2022. Evidence of sound production in wild stingrays. Ecology 103(11): e3812. Link
  • Grant MI, Charles R, Fordham S, Harry AV, Lear KO, Morgan DL, Phillips NM, Simeon B, Wakhida Y, Wueringer BE. 2022. Pristis clavataThe IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2022: e.T39390A68641215. Link
  • Harry AV, Everett B, Faria V, Fordham S, Grant MI, Haque AB, Ho H, Jabado RW, Jones GCA, Lear KO, Morgan DL, Phillips NM, Spaet JLY, Tanna A, Wueringer BE. 2022. Pristis zijsronThe IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2022: e.T39393A58304631. Link
  • Holmes BJ, Williams SM, Barnett A, Townsend KA, Wueringer BE, Daley RK, Dudgeon CL, Amstrong A, Henderson C, Finucci B, Huveneers C, Butcher PA, Crook K, Jicks J, Rigby CL, Izzo C, Treolar MA, Gutteridge AN, Taylor SM. 2022. Sharks, Rays and chimaeras. In: Smith B, Waudby H, Alberthsen C, Hampton J (eds). Wildlife Research in Australia: Practical and Applied Methods. CSIRO Publishing. 543-560.
  • Wueringer BE, Henderson C, Holmes BJ. 2022. Chondrichthyans – Guitarfish, wedgefish and sawfish. In: Smith B, Waudby H, Alberthsen C, Hampton J (eds). Wildlife Research in Australia: Practical and Applied Methods CSIRO Publishing. 546-547.

2015 – 2021

  • Nevatte RJ, Williamson JE, Wueringer BE, Gillings MR. 2021. Contrasting patterns of population structure in commercially fishes sawsharks from southern Australian waters. Rev Fish Biol Fisheries https://doi.org/10.1007/s11160-021-09640-4
  • Wueringer BE, Winther-Janson M, Raoult V, Guttridge TL. 2020. Anatomy of the mechanosensory lateral line canal system and electrosensory ampullae of Lorenzini in two species of sawshark (fam. Pristiophoridae). J Fish Biol 98:168-177
  • Hudgins JL, Bell, M, Wueringer BE. 2019. Extension of the historic range of freshwater sawfish Pristis pristis on the east coast of Australia. Pacific Conservation Biology. https://doi.org/10.1071/PC19001 ResearchGate
  • Wueringer BE. 2017. Sawfish catches in the Queensland Shark Control Program, 1964 to 2016. Endangered Species Research, DOI:10.3354/esr00853 open access
  • Bradney D, Evans S, Davidson A, Wueringer BE, Morgan DL, Clausen P. 2017. Sawfishes stealth revealed using computational fluid dynamics. Journal of Fish Biology, DOI:10.1111/jfb.13255 link
  • Nevatte RJ, Williamson JE, Vella NGF, Raoult V, Wueringer BE. 2017. Morphometry and microanatomy of the barbels of the common sawshark Pristiophorus cirratus (Pristiophoridae): implications for pristiophorid behaviour. Journal of Fish Biology, DOI:10.1111/jfb.13275 ResearchGate
  • Nevatte RJ, Wueringer BE, Jacob DE, Park JM, Williamson JE. 2017. First insights into the function of the sawshark rostrum through examination of rostral tooth microwear. Journal of Fish Biology, DOI: 10.1111/jfb.13467 ResearchGate
  • O’Shea O, Wueringer BE, Winchester M Brooks EJ. 2017. Comparative feeding ecology of the yellow ray Urobatis jamaicensis (Urotrygonidae) from The Bahamas. Journal of Fish Biology, DOI: 10.1111/jfb.13488 ResearchGate
  • O’Leary BC, Winther-Janson M, Bainbridge JM, Aitken J, Hawkins JP, Roberts CM. 2016. Effective coverage targets for ocean protection. Conservation Letters, DOI: 10.1111/conl.12247 open access
  • Morgan DL, Wueringer BE, Allen MG, Ebner BC, Whitty JM, Gleis AC, Beatty SJ. 2016. Only a sawfish needs its saw: what is the fate of amputee sawfish? Fisheries, 41 (2): 71-73 publisher, ResearchGate

pre 2015

  • Winther-Janson M, Wueringer BE, Seymour J. 2012. Electroreception in epaulette sharks, Hemiscyllium ocellatum. PLoS ONE. 7(11): e49857. DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0049857 open access
  • Wueringer BE. 2012. Electroreception in elasmobranchs – sawfish as a case study. Brain, Behaviour and Evolution 80:97-107. DOI: 10.1159/000339873 ResearchGate
  • Wueringer BE, Kajiura SM, Squire L Jr, Tibbetts IR, Collin SP. 2011. Electric field detection in sawfish and shovelnose rays. PLoS ONE. 7(7): e41605. DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0041605. open access
  • Wueringer BE, Squire L Jr, Kajiura, SM, Hart NS,Collin SPC. 2011. The function of the sawfish’s saw. Current Biology 22(5) R150-R151. publisher, ResearchGate
  • Wueringer BE, Peverell SC, Seymour J, Squire L Jr, Kajiura, SM, Collin SPC. 2011. Sensory systems in sawfishes – Part 1: The ampullae of Lorenzini. Brain, Behavior and Evolution. 78(2): 139-149. pdf
  • Wueringer BE, Peverell SC, Seymour J, Squire L Jr, Collin SP. 2011. Sensory systems in sawfishes – Part 2: The lateral line. Brain, Behavior and Evolution. 78(2): 150-161. open access
  • Marzullo TM, Wueringer BE, Squire, L Jnr, Collin SP. 2011. Description of the mechanoreceptive lateral line and the electroreceptive ampullary system in the freshwater whipray Himantura dalyensis. Marine & Freshwater Research 62: 771-779 ResearchGate
  • Wueringer BE, Squire L Jr, Collin SP. 2009. The biology of extinct and extant sawfish (Batoidea: Sclerorhynchidae and Pristidae). Reviews in Fish Biology and Fisheries 19:445-464. ResearchGate
  • Wueringer BE, Tibbetts IR, Whitehead DL. 2009. Ultrastructure of the ampullae of Lorenzini of the eastern shovelnose ray, Aptychotrema rostrata. Zoomorphology 128: 45-52. ResearchGate
  • Wueringer BE, Tibbetts IR. 2008. Comparison of the ampullary and lateral line systems of two species of shovelnose ray. Reviews in Fish Biology and Fisheries 18(1): 47-64. ResearchGate

 

Publications for a general readership:

  • Biskis VN, Wueringer BE. 2022. Citizen Scientists saving sawfish. Newsletter of the Australian Society for Fish Biologists. Vol 50: (1). 12-15.
  • Wueringer BE, Biskis N. 2020. To tag a sawfish. CRIKEY! Magazine.
  • Wueringer BE, McNicholas G. 2018. Searching for sawfish. CRIKEY! Magazine Spring:44-47.
  • Wueringer BE. 2012. Demystifying a sea monster. Australasian Science Sept 2012: 29-31. link to publisher 
  • Phillips N, Wueringer BE. 2015. Sawfish – Ancient predators in need of modern conservation tools. Wildlife Australia, Autumn 2015 ResearchGate

Publications in preparation:

  • Biskis VN, Townsend K, McDavitt M, Wueringer BE. Sawfish spotters fill data gaps critical for sawfish protections in Queensland, Australia.
  • Wueringer BE, Kempster R, Collin SP. Sensory adaptations of juvenile spear tooth sharks Glyphis glyphis. 
  • Wueringer BE, Coimbra JP, Collin SP. Sensory systems in sawfishes: Part III Retinal specialisations in the freshwater sawfish Pristis pristis in comparison with a shark ray Rhina ancylostoma.
  • Wueringer BE, Collin SP. Social interactions and dominance hierarchies in the freshwater sawfish Pristis pristis.