Angler catches rare sawfish off Queensland coast

AN amateur fisherman has reeled in an extremely rare and weird looking sea creature off a Queensland beach. His catch has amazed scientists.

An amateur fisherman caught this extremely rare green sawfish off Four Mile Beach at Port Douglas.

AN amateur fisherman has stunned scientists after he hooked an incredibly rare and weird looking sea creature off a Port Douglas beach.

Gary Cooper told The Cairns Post he used nothing more than rotting fish for bait to catch what turned out to be a green sawfish, the largest sawfish species in the world.

Mr Cooper’s catch was 4.2m long but the species can reach lengths of more than 7m.

Green sawfish are mostly only found in the Gulf of Carpentaria and records show the sawfish occurred along Queensland’s east coast and NSW prior to the 1960s.

For the record, Mr Cooper released the green sawfish and alerted authorities.