of the body. Obtains dark blotches on head, back, the fin bases and tail. The species contains no ocelli. Distribution and range The range of the sawback angelshark continues to decrease as their population declines. They range along the Eastern Atlantic in Senegal, Gambia, and Sierra Leone. They also inhabit the Southern Mediterranean coastline in Algeria to the eastern basin, and along the northern coast from Turkey possibly to Albania, although their presence is unknown further east. Its presence is unknown in Algeria, Sardinia, Malta, Libya, Egypt, Palestine, Lebanon, Syria, southern Cyprus, Crete, ad Western Mainland Greece. Climate and habitat Subtropical; offshore species, outer continental shelf and upper slope, demersal, marine. Usually found on muddy bottoms. down. Behavior As with other angelsharks, the sawback angelshark is a bottom-dweller that tries to camouflage at the bottom of the ocean in order to ambush and capture its prey. Feeding Sawback angelsharks are ambush predators, meaning they lie on the ocean floor and wait for their prey to pass by. They feed on small sharks, bony fishes, cephalopods, and crustaceans. Reproduction Sawback angelshark reproduction is ovoviviparous. This means the young develop inside the mother as eggs until they are ready to hatch. The average generation of the sawback angelshark is 15 years, so they have a low population doubling time. Females produce live young, and their litter size ranges from 8 to 12 pups. The female fecundity ranges from 12 to 22, and larger females sharks tend to have a higher fecundity and produce more offspring than smaller females. Status IUCN Red List: Critically Endangered. Added to endangered species list in 2007 due to overexploitation. One major source of their decline has been contamination in the North-Eastern Mediterranean. Due to agricultural, industrial and urban wastes, the Mediterranean has seen an untick in the amount of toxic heavy metals. The metals most present are Iron (Fe), Zinc (Zn), and Mercury (Hg). These metals have been found in dangerous quantities in Angelsharks gills, liver and muscle tissues. Another major contributing factor to the decline of the species has been fisheries and overfishing in the Mediterranean. This comes from Illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing, commercial fishing (lack of species identification, as well as the impact of different gear types), recreational fishing, subsidence/food security and small scale fishing. Human intrusion into the angel sharks environment has also caused a significant disruption to their habitat and breeding