Hi Rick,
Welllll.....
According to the current biology, there are two species in the Atlantic, the big-tooth and small-toothed sawfishes. The big-tooth has fewer and larger teeth, the small-toothed has smaller and more teeth. Thing is, Tim's specimen has more teeth than small-toothed sawfishes do.
Because of that, I'd suggest that it's neither the big-toothed nor the small-toothed species. If so, it didn't come from the Atlantic.
I do know from another book (Throwim Way Leg by Tim Flannery) that there is a sawfish species that allegedly lives only in one lake in Irian Jaya. Now, I do not think that this is the source of the Tim's sawbill, but I do suspect that this lake species might be one of the questionable ones, based on what I know about biology. My guess is that the questionable species (between 2 and 6 of them) probably occur in the Indopacific, especially around Indonesia, PNG and Australia.
Bottom line: my guess is that the Tim's blade came from the Indo Pacific. Which species it came from is the interesting question. Hopefully, Tim's got a complete enough Bill that the sawfish expert can identify it from a photo.
Fearn
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