Paddlefish Range Shrinks As River Dams Block Migration

The earliest known paddlefish fossil, Protopsephurus, dates to approximately 120 million years ago during the Early Cretaceous epoch in China. Throughout their historic range, paddlefish populations. Paddlefish inhabit slow-moving, large, deep, freshwater rivers and reservoirs. They only eat plankton, which are microscopic plants and animals. They eat by simply swimming around with their mouth open. There are only two species of paddlefish in the world; an extremely endangered (possibly extinct) species found in China, and our North American species, currently found in 22 states throughout the. paddlefish, (Polyodon spathula), archaic freshwater fish with a paddlelike snout, a wide mouth, smooth skin, and a cartilaginous skeleton. A relative of the sturgeon, the paddlefish makes up the family. Nov 10, 2024 · Paddlefish (Polyodon spatula) are one of North America’s most distinctive freshwater fish species. They are a member of the Acipenseriformes order, which contains only one other species:.

Paddlefish have a shark-like body, deeply forked tail, and a long, flat, blade-like snout that makes up almost a third of their entire length. Interestingly, these scaleless, cartilaginous fish are an ancient.