Ask the Chatbot Games & Quizzes History & Society Science & Tech Biographies Animals & Nature Geography & Travel Arts & Culture ProCon Money Videos
Pliotrema
References
Britannica AI Icon

Pliotrema

shark genus
Written by
The Information Architects of Encyclopaedia Britannica

The Information Architects maintain a master list of the topics included in the corpus of  Encyclopædia Britannica, and create and manage the relationships between them.
The Information Architects of Encyclopaedia Britannica
Last updated

Quick Summary

The genus Pliotrema refers to a group of six species of saw sharks, which are marine sharks belonging to the order Pristiophoriformes. These sharks are characterized by a long, slender, saw-like snout with sharp, tooth-like projections on each edge. They possess a pair of barbels on the underside of their snout and have gill slits on the sides of their heads. Saw sharks typically grow to about 1.37 meters (4.5 feet) in length and feed on fish by striking with their saws, but they are not considered dangerous to humans. The genus Pliotrema is distinguished by having six pairs of gill openings, differentiating it from the genus Pristiophorus, which has five.1

Summary created from Britannica articles using AI. AI can make mistakes, so verify using Britannica articles.
5 Britannica Sources
  1. saw shark
  2. Pristiophoridae
  3. crocodile shark
  4. zebra shark
  5. Pleurotremata

Ask Britannica AI about this topic

Britannica doesn't have a full article on this topic, so we've curated a list of our relevant coverage.