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Polyodon spathula  (Walbaum, 1792)

Mississippi paddlefish
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Native range | All suitable habitat
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Polyodon spathula   AquaMaps   Data sources: GBIF OBIS
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Image of Polyodon spathula (Mississippi paddlefish)
Polyodon spathula
Picture by Moreau, J.

Classification / Names Common names | Synonyms | Catalog of Fishes (gen., sp.) | ITIS | CoL | WoRMS | Cloffa

Actinopterygii (ray-finned fishes) > Acipenseriformes (Sturgeons and paddlefishes) > Polyodontidae (Paddlefishes)
Etymology: Polyodon: Greek, polys = a lot of + Greek, odous = teeth (Ref. 45335);  spathula: Polyodon, many toothed, perhaps due to the numerous gill rakers because adult paddlefish lack teeth, although young fish has many small teeth, and spathula meaning spatula, due to its elongated snout (Ref. 79012).

Environment / Climate / Range Ecology

Freshwater; demersal; potamodromous (Ref. 51243); depth range 2 - ? m.   Temperate; 10°C - 18°C (Ref. 2060), preferred ?; 50°N - 30°N

Distribution Countries | FAO areas | Ecosystems | Occurrences | Point map | Introductions | Faunafri

North America: Mississippi River system, including the Missouri River into Montana, the Ohio River, and their major tributaries. At least one country reports adverse ecological impact after introduction. International trade restricted (CITES II, since 11.6.92).

Size / Weight / Age

Maturity: Lm ?  range ? - ? cm
Max length : 221 cm TL male/unsexed; (Ref. 5723); common length : 120 cm TL male/unsexed; (Ref. 12193); max. published weight: 90.7 kg (Ref. 3221); max. reported age: 55 years (Ref. 46974)

Short description Morphology | Morphometrics

Snout long, canoe-paddle-shaped; gill cover with large, fleshy, pointed flap (Ref. 86798).

Biology     Glossary (e.g. epibenthic)

Inhabits slow-flowing water of large rivers, usually in water deeper than 1.3 m. Feeds on plankton. The extended upper jaw (= paddle) may help to channel plankton into the mouth. Threatened due to over harvesting, habitat loss and pollution (Ref. 58490).

Life cycle and mating behavior Maturity | Reproduction | Spawning | Eggs | Fecundity | Larvae

Main reference Upload your references | References | Coordinator | Collaborators

Robins, C.R., R.M. Bailey, C.E. Bond, J.R. Brooker, E.A. Lachner, R.N. Lea and W.B. Scott, 1991. Common and scientific names of fishes from the United States and Canada. Am. Fish. Soc. Spec. Pub. (20):183 p. (Ref. 3814)

IUCN Red List Status (Ref. 115185)

  Vulnerable (VU) (A3de)

CITES (Ref. 94142)

Threat to humans




Human uses

Fisheries: commercial; aquarium: public aquariums
FAO(fisheries: production, species profile; publication : search) | FisheriesWiki | Sea Around Us

More information

Common names
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Spawning
Fecundity
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Internet sources

Alien/Invasive Species database | BHL | Cloffa | BOLDSystems | Websites from users | Check FishWatcher | CISTI | Catalog of Fishes (gen., sp.) | DiscoverLife | ECOTOX | Faunafri | Fishes of Iran | Fishtrace | GenBank(genome, nucleotide) | GloBI | GOBASE | Google Books | Google Scholar | Google | IGFA World Record | MitoFish | National databases | Otolith Atlas of Taiwan Fishes | Public aquariums | PubMed | Reef Life Survey | Scirus | SeaLifeBase | Tree of Life | Wikipedia(Go, Search) | World Records Freshwater Fishing | Zoological Record

Estimates of some properties based on models

Phylogenetic diversity index (Ref. 82805):  PD50 = 1.2500   [Uniqueness, from 0.5 = low to 2.0 = high].
Bayesian length-weight: a=0.00646 (0.00431 - 0.00966), b=3.10 (2.99 - 3.21), in cm Total Length, based on LWR estimates for this species (Ref. 93245).
Trophic Level (Ref. 69278):  3.4   ±0.45 se; Based on food items.
Resilience (Ref. 69278):  Low, minimum population doubling time 4.5 - 14 years (tm=6-9; tmax=30).
Prior r = 0.21, 2 SD range = 0.07 - 0.62, log(r) = -1.56, SD log(r) = 0.53, Based on: 2 tgen, 1 tmax, 2 Fec records
Vulnerability (Ref. 59153):  Very high vulnerability (85 of 100) .
Price category (Ref. 80766):   Unknown.