 The longnose sawshark can be confused with one of many species of sawfish, a family of rays, but is distinguished by the five gills located on the sides of its head, as opposed to sawfish which have gills located on the underside of the head.The longnose sawshark is found in the eastern Indian Ocean around southern Australia and Tasmania on the continental shelf at depths of 20 - 600m .While it may venture into bays and estuaries on occasion, longnose sawsharks prefer sandy and gravelly areas offshore between .