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Pe Taira

@petaira

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Asturias, paraíso natural 💚
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PhD Candidate 🎣 🐟🐠🦈
📍 Perth, Australia 🇦🇺🦘

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Happy International Sawfish Day! 🪚🐟💚
Sawfish are among the world’s most threatened marine fishes. Every year on 17th October, we celebrate International Sawfish Day to raise awareness and promote their conservation. Protecting their vital habitats, particularly mangroves and estuaries that serve as important nursery areas, is essential to ensuring their survival. Also, their iconic rostra are not souvenirs! In Australia, sawfish are totally protected, and taking or possessing a rostrum or any other parts of a sawfish in WA can result in fines up to AUD $5,000. The rostrum shown in this video was donated and is now used for research and educational purposes.
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Want to learn more about green sawfish? 📖
Dr Jack Ingelbrecht and colleagues have just published a fascinating article exploring what we currently know about the green sawfish (Pristis zijsron), as well as the key knowledge gaps that future research needs to address to support the conservation of this critically endangered species.
🔗 Check out the paper and discover more about this incredible species!
Ingelbrecht et al. (2026). The Critically Endangered green sawfish (Pristis zijsron): current knowledge and future directions.
https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11160-026-10088-7
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Understanding sawfish is an essential step towards protecting them. The more we learn, the better equipped we are to ensure their future 💚🪚
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Although I’m sharing this video today, it was originally presented at the World Oceans Day Breakfast hosted by @westernaustralianmarinescience and @amsa__wa back in June.
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I hope you enjoyed the video and learnt something about this amazing species! 💚 by @petaira

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2 days ago

A video has been going viral of a man swimming while a “shark” swims past him. The comments are full of fear, misinformation, and even people wishing harm on the man and, although to a lesser extent, wishing harm to the animal.
Many assumed the bloke was putting his life at serious risk when the animal on the video is actually a harmless shovelnose. Commonly called as shovelnose sharks, this name creates confusion because it’s not a true shark, it’s a ray.
It doesn’t have shark-like teeth. Its mouth is like a ray’s, you can see it clearly in the second photo.
It’s not a threat to humans, it doesn’t bite people, hunt humans or “swallow feet”.
Now, should people force interactions or be disrespectful to wild animals? No.
Was the man in the video putting his life at risk with the shovelnose? Also no.
Fear is natural, but it should be met with information, not violence ❤️‍🩹
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These photos are from my own fieldwork.
What you are looking at here is a Giant Guitarfish (𝘎𝘭𝘢𝘶𝘤𝘰𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘨𝘶𝘴 𝘵𝘺𝘱𝘶𝘴) also known as shovelnose ray/shark. This small specimen is a juvenile, but adults can reach more than 2 m in length.
In the second and third images, you can see its mouth, and no, it cannot “suction” a foot, bite a person or harm anything remotely human-sized 😂
In the fourth picture, you can see how the shovelnose is released and safely returned to the water after the sampling.
Knowledge replaces fear with respect and that’s how coexistence begins 🌊🐟✨ Shovelnose shark ray fish harmless sea ocean mangroves education science communication by @petaira

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9 months ago

🔬 Did you know sawfish use their toothy rostrum like a sword to stun prey? Sadly, all five species are critically endangered due to habitat loss and bycatch, and the green sawfish population has plummeted by over 80% in the last 50 years.

To celebrate International Sawfish Day, we’re spotlighting the vital work of researchers like Penélope Taira Dantas Suárez, who tagged and sampled this green sawfish to study its DNA and diet.

Protecting sawfish means protecting the balance of entire marine ecosystems 💚

#InternationalSawfishDay #MarineConservation #EndangeredSpecies #DNA #ecosystems

This activity was conducted by trained professionals under the appropriate research permits. Do not attempt to handle sawfish unless you have been trained and authorised to do so. by @petaira

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a year ago

We had this Swan following us for so long, we thought it was just friendly because that is
their nature. However, on closer inspection, we saw that it had fishing line all around it,
and it wanted us to help it. We captured it using some potato salad and removed the
hooks and line, but, there was another hook down its throat. We didn’t want to risk
injuring it, so we called up our friend @fairy.tern , and she put us in contact with the right people to speak to, and the Swan was taken to the animal hospital to undergo
surgery. A couple of weeks later, we were notified that it was being released, back in the same spot, and with its partner. We were very lucky to see it reunite with its flock and live out its days; that was a special moment.
#swan #rescue #animals #science #animalrescue #fish #university by @petaira

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a year ago

Meet Choves 💚🪚🐟
(short for Anchovy… 😂)

This 2.5m green sawfish (Pristis zijsron) was caught, sampled, tagged, and safely released back into the wild by the amazing Sawfish Team 💚⚡
What an unforgettable moment with this endangered legend!

Huge thanks to the team for making it all happen! by @petaira

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a year ago

That one was a full-on weekend, riding, snorkeling, fishing… basically training for my survival era 😂 taken in Western Australia by @petaira

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2 years ago

Some say we came for the workshop, but really… it was for the great company (and the quokkas 😂)
✨🥰 taken in Rottnest Island, Western Australia by @petaira

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2 years ago

Haciendo amigos 🦘 Canguro kangaroo Australia national park selfie taken in Serpentine National Park by @petaira

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2 years ago

Pues si que hay monos en Gibraltar taken in Gibraltar by @petaira

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4 years ago

Podríamos haberlo hecho mejor pero no más divertido 😂 taken in Chefchaouen, Morocco by @petaira

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4 years ago

Welcome to Hell 🔥 by @petaira

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4 years ago

🌸🌸🌸 by @petaira

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4 years ago