Paddlefish  (Polyodon spathula)

Description

The paddlefish has a highly distinctive appearance, so named for its peculiar, elongate, paddle-shaped snout, which may act as a sensory organ or help to channel plankton into the mouth (2) (4). The paddlefish’s genus name, Polydon, derives from a Greek word meaning ‘many tooth’, referring to their hundreds of gill rakers, specially adapted to their method of filter-feeding plankton (5). This large fish is grey to blue-black, paler underneath, lacks scales, and has a deeply forked, shark-like tail (5) (6). Males are generally larger than females (7).

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