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Polyodon spathula (Walbaum, 1792)

Mississippi paddlefish
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Image of Polyodon spathula (Mississippi paddlefish)
Polyodon spathula
Picture by Moreau, J.

Classification / Names Common names | Synonyms | Catalog of Fishes(genus, species) | ITIS | CoL | WoRMS | Cloffa

Chondrostei (sturgeons) > Acipenseriformes (Sturgeons and paddlefishes) > Polyodontidae (Paddlefishes)
Etymology: Polyodon: Greek, polys = a lot of + Greek, odous = teeth (Ref. 45335); spathula: From the words Poly, meaning many; don, tooth; and spathula, meaning blade or paddle (Ref. 10294).
More on author: Walbaum.

Environment: milieu / climate zone / depth range / distribution range Ecology

Freshwater; demersal; potamodromous (Ref. 51243); depth range 2 - ? m. Subtropical; 10°C - 18°C (Ref. 2060); 49°N - 29°N, 112°W - 77°W (Ref. 86798)

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

North America: Mississippi River basin from southwestern New York to Montana and south to Louisiana; Gulf Slope drainagaes from Mobile Bay in Alabama, to Galveston Bay in Texas, USA. Formerly in Great Lakes basin, probably extirpated. At least one country reports adverse ecological impact after introduction.

Size / Weight / Age

Maturity: Lm ?  range ? - ? cm
Max length : 221 cm TL male/unsexed; (Ref. 86798); 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 Identification keys | Morphology | Morphometrics

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

Biology     Glossary (e.g. epibenthic)

Usually inhabits water deeper than 1.2 m in slow-flowing large rivers, lakes, and impoundments (Ref. 86798). 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

Page, L.M. and B.M. Burr, 2011. A field guide to freshwater fishes of North America north of Mexico. Boston : Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 663p. (Ref. 86798)

IUCN Red List Status (Ref. 130435: Version 2024-2)

  Vulnerable (VU) (A2cd); Date assessed: 14 September 2019

CITES

Appendix II: International trade monitored

CMS (Ref. 116361)

Not Evaluated

Threat to humans






Human uses

Fisheries: commercial; gamefish: yes; aquarium: public aquariums
FAO - Fisheries: landings, species profile; Publication: search | FishSource |

More information

Trophic ecology
Food items
Diet composition
Food consumption
Food rations
Predators
Ecology
Ecology
Population dynamics
Growth parameters
Max. ages / sizes
Length-weight rel.
Length-length rel.
Length-frequencies
Mass conversion
Recruitment
Abundance
Life cycle
Reproduction
Maturity
Maturity/Gills rel.
Fecundity
Spawning
Spawning aggregations
Eggs
Egg development
Larvae
Larval dynamics
Distribution
Countries
FAO areas
Ecosystems
Occurrences
Introductions
BRUVS - Videos
Anatomy
Gill area
Brain
Otolith
Physiology
Body composition
Nutrients
Oxygen consumption
Swimming type
Swimming speed
Visual pigments
Fish sound
Diseases & Parasites
Toxicity (LC50s)
Genetics
Genetics
Heterozygosity
Heritability
Human related
Aquaculture systems
Aquaculture profiles
Strains
Ciguatera cases
Stamps, coins, misc.
Outreach
Collaborators
Taxonomy
Common names
Synonyms
Morphology
Morphometrics
Pictures
References
References

Tools

Bio-Quiz | E-book | Field guide | Length-frequency wizard | Life-history tool | Point map | Classification Tree | Catch-MSY |

Special reports

Check for Aquarium maintenance | Check for Species Fact Sheets | Check for Aquaculture Fact Sheets

Download XML

Summary page | Point data | Common names | Photos

Internet sources

AFORO (otoliths) | Alien/Invasive Species database | Aquatic Commons | BHL | Cloffa | BOLDSystems | Websites from users | Check FishWatcher | CISTI | Catalog of Fishes: genus, species | DiscoverLife | ECOTOX | FAO - Fisheries: landings, species profile; Publication: search | Faunafri | Fishipedia | Fishtrace | GenBank: genome, nucleotide | GloBI | Google Books | Google Scholar | Google | IGFA World Record | MitoFish | National databases | Otolith Atlas of Taiwan Fishes | Public aquariums | PubMed | Reef Life Survey | Socotra Atlas | Tree of Life | Wikipedia: Go, Search | World Records Freshwater Fishing | Zoological Record

Estimates based on models

Phylogenetic diversity index (Ref. 82804):  PD50 = 1.2500   [Uniqueness, from 0.5 = low to 2.0 = high].
Bayesian length-weight: a=0.00646 (0.00431 - 0.00968), b=3.10 (2.99 - 3.21), in cm total length, based on LWR estimates for this species (Ref. 93245).
Trophic level (Ref. 69278):  3.1   ±0.0 se; based on diet studies.
Resilience (Ref. 120179):  Low, minimum population doubling time 4.5 - 14 years (tm=6-9; tmax=30).
Fishing Vulnerability (Ref. 59153):  Very high vulnerability (90 of 100).
Price category (Ref. 80766):   Unknown.
Nutrients (Ref. 124155):  Calcium = 29.6 [13.4, 59.0] mg/100g; Iron = 1.11 [0.65, 1.86] mg/100g; Protein = 18.1 [15.6, 20.7] %; Omega3 = 0.356 [0.139, 0.908] g/100g; Selenium = 71.4 [29.0, 167.5] μg/100g; VitaminA = 11.8 [3.6, 39.5] μg/100g; Zinc = 0.737 [0.499, 1.125] mg/100g (wet weight);