Sawfish sword

fearn · 21st November 2012, 07:10 PM

About that German parade sawbill: The thing to remember is that there are multiple species of sawfish. The large toothed sawfish historically was found north almost to the straits of Gibraltar (http://www.nmfs.noaa.gov/pr/pdfs/ran...othsawfish.pdf). Thus, there's no logistical problem with a sawbill ending up in Europe during Renaissance time or before. Note that I can't identify sawfish bills to species from pictures, and if that sawbill came from an Indo-Pacific species, the connection would be more interesting.

Best,

F

21st November 2012, 07:10 PM	#36
fearn Member Join Date: Dec 2004 Posts: 1,247	About that German parade sawbill: The thing to remember is that there are multiple species of sawfish. The large toothed sawfish historically was found north almost to the straits of Gibraltar (http://www.nmfs.noaa.gov/pr/pdfs/ran...othsawfish.pdf). Thus, there's no logistical problem with a sawbill ending up in Europe during Renaissance time or before. Note that I can't identify sawfish bills to species from pictures, and if that sawbill came from an Indo-Pacific species, the connection would be more interesting. Best, F