page_title: American paddlefish
section_title: Population declines
hierarchical_section_title: American paddlefish / Population declines
caption_attribution_description: Angler has paddlefish by rostrum.
context_page_description: The American paddlefish is a species of basal ray-finned fish closely related to sturgeons in the order Acipenseriformes. Fossil records of paddlefish date back over 125 million years to the Early Cretaceous. The American paddlefish is a smooth-skinned freshwater fish commonly called paddlefish, and is also referred to as Mississippi paddlefish, spoon-billed cat, or spoonbill. It is the only living species in the paddlefish family, Polyodontidae. The other recently-surviving member of this lineage is the now extinct Chinese paddlefish endemic to the Yangtze River basin in China. The American paddlefish is often referred to as a primitive fish or a relict species because it retains some morphological characteristics of its early ancestors, including a skeleton that is almost entirely cartilaginous and a paddle-shaped rostrum that extends nearly one-third their body length. It has been referred to as a freshwater shark because of its heterocercal tail or caudal fin resembling that of sharks. The American paddlefish is a highly derived fish because it has evolved with adaptations such as filter feeding.
caption: Angler landing a large paddlefish
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