Paddlefish - Classification

Classification

There are two currently or recently extant genera in this family and four (if not five) extinct genera: Polyodontidae

• Subfamily †Paleopsephurinae
  • Genus †Paleopsephurus
    • Species †Paleopsephurus wilsoni
• Subfamily Polyodontinae
  • Genus †Crossopholis
    • Species †Crossopholis magnicaudatus
  • Genus Polyodon
    • Polyodon spathula American paddlefish
    • †Polyodon tuberculata
  • Genus Psephurus
    • Psephurus gladius Chinese paddlefish (Not recently verified extant, and perhaps now extinct)
• Subfamily †Protopsephurinae
  • Genus †Protopsephurus
    • Species †Protopsephurus liui

The Chinese paddlefish (Psephurus gladius) is (or was) known only from the Yangtze River in China. Nine-foot (3-meter) specimens weighing 300 kilograms (660 lb) have been recorded, and reports of 7 metres (23 ft) fish exist, although the existence of such large specimens is doubtful. They may now be extinct, with a recently completed three-year survey of the Yangtze finding no specimens.

The American paddlefish (Polyodon spathula) is currently known from the Mississippi River watershed in the United States, including slow-flowing waters of the Mississippi River itself, as well as various tributaries including the Missouri River, Ohio River, Yellowstone River, Wisconsin River, Des Moines River, and Arkansas River systems. These fish were also found historically in Lake Erie, in the Great Lakes, but in May 2000, the Canadian Species at Risk Act listed the paddlefish as being extirpated in Canada.

The American paddlefish is one of the largest freshwater fish in North America. They commonly reach 5 feet (1.5 m) or more in length and can weigh more than 60 pounds (27 kg). The largest American paddlefish on record, weighing 144 pounds (65 kg), was caught by Clinton Boldridge in the Atchison Watershed in Kansas. The largest unofficial record was 206 pounds from Lake Cumberland in Kentucky; postcards from the 1960s show a photo of this huge fish.

Fossils of other kinds of paddlefish have been found. One such species is Crossopholis magnicaudatus, from the Eocene-age Green River Shale deposit in Wyoming.