Object Status:
Unlocated
Accession Date:
May 16, 1807
Primary Source Reference:
Peale Museum Accessions Book, Historical Society of Pennsylvania, p. 22
Notes:
Sawfishes, also known as carpenter sharks, are a family of rays characterized by a long, narrow, flattened rostrum, or nose extension, lined with sharp transverse teeth, arranged in a way that resembles a saw. There are five living species of sawfish in two genera, two of which inhabit the Atlantic, one of which, the smalltooth sawfish (Pristis pectinata) is pictured here.
The Peale Museum received five other sawfish beaks, as follows: on 6 June 1812 from Franklin Buchanan, Mar[iner?[; on 15 Apr 1814 from Miss Maryan Dillingham ( a beak 32 inches long); on 15 Oct 1819 from Willaim Maginless; on 17 May 1820 from H. P. Pryce; and on 10 July 1823 from J[oseph] B. Wharton (a beak from Alvarado, Colombis). Accessions Book, pp. 61, 72, 100, 101, and 124
Specimen Type:
Individual parts
