The spoonbill is an ancient fish that has been cruising the rivers and tributaries of the Osage River for several thousands of years. The spoonbill also has a cartilaginous skeleton, with only the jaw having hard bone. As the spoonbill swims along near the surface of the water, it opens its mouth wide and uses its gill rakers to filter out tiny plankton, closing its mouth only to swallow. The spoonbill is covered with taste buds and numerous nerve endings which helps locate concentrations of plankton. The paddled snout is also believed to act as a stabilizer reducing drag when the spoonbill has its mouth open for feeding.
Spoonbills have excellent white meat and are prized for their valuable roe.
They taste similar to salmon or swordfish. The roe are important to the commercial caviar business. In fact, much of the caviar that is sold as sturgeon roe is actually paddlefish roe. The paddlefish has been severely over fished and abused in recent years. Over-fishing, combined with changing habitats, has caused the paddlefish numbers to decline.