Longcomb sawfish
The longcomb sawfish is native to tropical and subtropical waters in the western and central Indo-Pacific. Historically its distribution covered almost and it ranged from South Africa, north to the Red Sea and Persian Gulf, east to the South China Sea, through Southeast Asia to Australia. In Australia, it ranged from Shark Bay, along the northern part of the country, and south to Jervis Bay on the eastern coast. Today it has disappeared from much of its historical range. It can live in colder waters than its relatives, as also evident by the range in Australia where it occurs further south than the other species of sawfish.
Smalltooth sawfish
Unlike the largetooth sawfish ("P. pristis"), the only other sawfish in the Atlantic, the smalltooth sawfish has a leading edge of the dorsal fin that is placed roughly above the leading edge of the pelvic fins (when the sawfish is seen from above or the side), relatively short pectoral fins and lack of a distinct lower lobe to the tail (lower lobe very small or absent). It can be separated from the more similar dwarf sawfish ("P. clavata") and green sawfish ("P. zijsron") by the distribution (both are only found in the Indo-Pacific) and the dorsal fin (its leading edge is placed slightly or clearly behind the leading edge of the pelvic fins in the dwarf and green sawfish). The smalltooth sawfish has a relatively narrow rostrum ("saw") with 20–32 teeth on each side.