Sawfish
The dwarf and largetooth sawfish are strictly warm-water species that generally live in waters that are and respectively. The green and smalltooth sawfish also occur in colder waters, in the latter down to , as illustrated by their (original) distributions that ranged further north and south of the strictly warm-water species. Sawfish are bottom-dwellers, but in captivity it has been noted that at least the largetooth and green sawfish readily take food from the water surface. Sawfish are mostly found in places with soft bottoms such as mud or sand, but may also occur over hard rocky bottoms or at coral reefs. They are often found in areas with seagrass or mangrove.
Smalltooth sawfish
Elasmobranchs are ovoviparous, have relatively long gestation periods, and internal fertilization. The sawfish eggs hatch in the uterus and the young continue to grow without a placental connection to the mother. The fetal sawfish receives nourishment from a yolk sac and absorbs all the nutrients it can from the yolk before it is born. Litters have been reported of up to 20 pups and the reproductive cycle is believed to be every two years. After sex, mating pairs separate without forming a pair bond and each continues polygamous matings.