Forgotten?

So, what about the non-commercial species in the Gulf? Well, don't be surprised if they slip through the cracks of this nightmare. A case in point...

The largetooth sawfish, Pristis perotteti, native to the tropical Atlantic, was known from the northwestern Gulf but has not been encountered there in years. In May, just a few weeks after the Deepwater Horizon disaster, P. perotteti was proposed for federal endangered species status, a protection already afforded to its sister species, the smalltooth sawfish (P. pectinata). The smalltooth sawfish remaining in the U.S. are confined largely to coastal waters of the lower peninsula of Florida.

Given the benthic nature of sawfish and their dependence on crustaceans and mollusks, they will doubtless suffer a heavy blow as oil impacts coastal estuaries.