The fish is long-lived and females produce a lot of eggs. A single large female paddlefish may contain more than 500,000 eggs weighing over 20 pounds. The large egg masses led to a new and ominous threat from people. Paddlefish eggs make excellent caviar that fetches high prices in the fish markets of Chicago and New York. Females with eggs cannot be reliably identified by external characteristics.
Poachers slit open every paddlefish they catch.
Males and females without eggs are discarded and often die from their wounds. Illegal harvest has become a serious problem in Missouri and surrounding states. Any poaching in Wisconsin could have devastating effects, given the scarcity of paddlefish. Possibly to dislodge parasitic silver lampreys. We've found that nearly all paddlefish below the Prairie du Sac dam bear silver lampreys or recent lamprey wounds.