Paddlefish: Types, Pictures, & Fun Facts

Paddlefish: All You Need To Know

The Paddlefish is a carnivorous fish that belongs to the Animalia family, phylum Chordata, class Actinopterygii, order Acipenseriformes, and family Polyodontidae.

The paddle fish can grow up to 4.9 feet and weigh up to 60 pounds, with a lifespan of up to 30 years. Paddle fish are freshwater fish that feed on zooplankton. Paddle fish are preyed upon by lampreys.

The longest paddle, like a snout, is the most distinguishing characteristic. Physical characteristics include grey and green colours, with smooth skin.

The paddlefish, also known as the American paddlefish, Mississippi paddlefish, or spoonbill, is a freshwater fish found predominantly in the Mississippi River basin’s open waters.

The Chinese paddlefish is one of just two paddlefish species left on the planet. The Chinese paddlefish, on the other hand, was declared extinct in 2020, leaving the American paddlefish as the world’s sole extant species.

5 Incredible Paddlefish Facts!

1. Filter-Feeders: Depending on their size, such fish are filter-feeders, feeding nearly completely on zooplankton, which they ingest by opening their huge mouths wide and sifting food from the water with their gill rakes.

2. Paddlefish roe may be treated into caviar that is identical in colour, texture, size, and flavour to caviar made from sturgeon roe from the Caspian Sea. This led to overfishing of the species until regulations were put in place.

3. Only One Species Remains: Unfortunately, the Chinese paddlefish, dubbed “the Yangtze’s panda,” was declared dead in 2020; the last recorded sighting was in 2003.

4. Paddlefish employ electroreceptors on their rostrums—their pointed, paddlelike snouts—to identify prey, relying on this approach far more than vision.

5. Paddlefish are regarded as primitive fish since they have experienced little modification since the early Cretaceous era, around 120 to 125 million years ago.

Paddlefish Classification and Scientific Name

These fish are members of the Acipenseriformes order, that comprises sturgeons, and the Polyodontidae family. Polyodon spathula is the scientific name for the only living species of paddlefish, which belongs to the genus Polyodon.

The Chinese paddlefish originated from the genus Psephurus, and its scientific name was Psephurus gladius. Everything was declared extinct in 2005. Paddlefish were known to occur in six different species.

Four of them are solely known from the fossil record; three of them are North American natives, and one is Chinese. The Chinese paddlefish became extinct recently, leaving only the American paddlefish as an extant species.

Polyodon derives its name from the Greek word polyodon, which means “many teeth.” The name spathula comes from the word spatula, and it refers to the form of the creature’s paddlelike rostrum.

Various Paddlefish Species

The American paddlefish, P. spathula, is the only living species. The following sections include more information on this species. Only one other species of paddlefish survived on the globe until recently: P. gladius, the Chinese paddlefish.

The Chinese paddlefish, also known as the Chinese swordfish or elephant fish, was bigger than the American counterpart and endemic to the Yangtze River basin. It was around 10 feet long on average.

The species may grow to be up to 23 feet long and 1,000 pounds, making it one of the world’s biggest freshwater fish species. The world’s biggest specimen ever collected was 9.8 feet long and weighed 661.4 pounds.

The Chinese paddlefish was further distinct from its American cousin in that it was a highly predatory piscivore, which meant it lived nearly solely on fish.

In contrast, the American species is a filter-feeder that feeds nearly entirely on zooplankton. The Chinese paddlefish was declared extinct in 2020, as previously stated.

The IUCN designated it as Critically Endangered in 1996; the last documented sighting was in 2003, and it is thought to have vanished between 2005 and 2010. Its populations were decimated by overfishing in the 1970s, when more than 25 tonnes were caught each year.

Their populations were cut in half when the Gezhouba Dam was built in 1981, affecting migrating patterns and upstream breeding. The American paddlefish is in serious trouble.

Since 2004, the IUCN has listed the species as Endangered; populations have dropped for a variety of causes, and the species has been extirpated from historical habitats in New York, Maryland, Pennsylvania, Lake Huron, and Ontario, Canada.

Since 1992, international trading in these fish has been forbidden. When a trade embargo on Iran hindered shipments of beluga caviar from the Caspian Sea in the 1980s, poaching of the species increased.

Demand for alternatives, such as caviar from paddlefish and sturgeon roe, soared, placing populations in jeopardy. Zebra mussels, an invasive species, have infested the Mississippi River, putting the species in jeopardy.

Zebra mussels, like paddlefish, are filter feeders. They rapidly exhausted available zooplankton, leading paddlefish numbers to fall.

Paddlefish Appearance

The American paddlefish, a freshwater fish with a cartilaginous skeleton and a cousin of the sturgeon, is an ancient freshwater fish with a cartilaginous skeleton. Its smooth skin is usually grey or green in colour, and the fish grows to be about 5 feet long and weighs around 60 pounds.

Paddlefish, on the other hand, may grow to be 7.2 feet long and weigh up to 200 pounds. The longest paddlefish ever taken was 7.1 feet long, 45.5 inches wide, and weighed more than 198 pounds. It was caught in Iowa in 1916.

Small, underdeveloped eyes, broad jaws, and massive, paddle-like snouts characterise these prehistoric fish. The snout is technically referred to as a rostrum, although it is essentially an outgrowth of the skull.

Electroreceptors in its ampulla, or hair cells, can sense electrical fields signalling the presence of prey, usually zooplankton. Indeed, these sensors are sensitive enough to detect individual movements of a zooplankton’s appendages, letting them more successfully seek for food.

They also have sensory pores covering nearly half of their bodies, which helps compensate for their poor vision.

Paddlefish Distribution, Population, and Habitat

Various state and federal safeguards are in effect today, and the species is also protected under the CITES Act. The American paddlefish is now predominantly found in the Mississippi River basin, which spans 22 states in the United States.

From New York to Montana, and south to the Gulf of Mexico, they can be found. Medium to large rivers, backwater lakes, and bayous are the majority of their habitats.

Paddlefish Predators and Prey

In the wild, these fish encounter few predators due to their size. Lampreys, on the other hand, feast on them. The fish is usually only wounded by a single lamprey. Multiple lampreys can, on occasion, adhere to a paddlefish at the same time, killing it.

The primary food of these fish is zooplankton, which they consume through filter-feeding. They have been known to eat tiny insects and their larvae, as well as small fish, on occasion.

Paddlefish Reproduction and Lifespan

The American paddlefish is a long-lived fish with a 30-year average lifetime. They do not mature sexually until later in life. On average, females acquire sexual maturity between the ages of 7 and 10.

However, some may not reach sexual maturity until they are 16 to 18 years old. Males attain sexual maturity around the age of seven, while others don’t until they’re nine or ten years old.

This species of fish spawns in the late spring. Temperature, water flow, and gravel substrate availability must all be ideal for them to spawn; if they aren’t, they might not even spawn at all.

Males spawn every year or every other year, whereas females spawn every second or third year. To spawn, these fish travel upstream. Although the exact length of their migration is unknown, they have been known to traverse more than 2,000 kilometres in a river system.

Females release their eggs onto exposed gravel and rocks as broadcast spawners, or mass spawners, while men release their sperm at the same time.

External fertilisation occurs, and the sticky eggs adhere to rocky substrates. Incubation takes about seven days on average. The young are then washed downstream, where they grow in deep freshwater ponds.

Paddlefish in Fishing and Cooking

Paddlefish roe is frequently turned into caviar, as previously stated. The texture of its flesh is similar to that of catfish, and the flavour is similar to that of swordfish. However, because of harvesting regulations, these fish are not widely consumed.

They don’t eat bait or lures since they are filter-feeders, thus snagging is the only way to catch them.

Paddlefish are still popular game fish, and fishing for them is legal in Arkansas, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Dakota, and Tennessee.