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SpeciesAcipenseriformesPolyodontidae
Fish

🐟Chinese paddlefish

Psephurus gladius (Martens, 1862)

The Chinese paddlefish, also known as the Chinese swordfish, is an extinct species of fish that was formerly native to the Yangtze and Yellow River basins in China. With records of specimens over 3.6 metres (12 ft) and possibly 7 m (23 ft) in length, it was one of the largest species of primarily freshwater fish. It was the only species in the genus Psephurus and one of two recent species of paddlefish (Polyodontidae), the other being the still-living American paddlefish. The species was not a strictly freshwater fish, with individuals having migrated down the Yangtze into the sea as juveniles, where they spent time in coastal waters, before returning into the river by adulthood, and migrating upriver to spawn. Unlike the American paddlefish, which is a filter feeder on plankton, the Chinese paddlefish was a piscivorous predator that primarily consumed small to medium-sized fish.

Text: Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.

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Measurements
6
vs you
≈ 4.8× your weight
Conservation status
EXExtinct

IUCN Red List assessment, 2022.

Key measurements
Body mass
300 kg
Body length
3 m
Shoulder height
not recorded
Top speed
not recorded
Bite force
not recorded
Maximum lifespan
not recorded
All measurements ↓
EX

This animal is extinct

Assessed Extinct on the IUCN Red List, 2022. Everything on this page — the measurements, the photos, the videos — is a record of an animal that is gone.

Facts and figures

Everything we know about the Chinese paddlefish

Typical adult figures. Where a value is an estimate rather than a measurement, it says so.

Body mass
300 kgmaximum recorded
FishBase
Details ↓

Source: FishBase · v25.04 · CC BY-NC 4.0

Body length
3 mmaximum recorded
FishBase
Details ↓

Source: FishBase · v25.04 · CC BY-NC 4.0

Trophic level
4.15
FishBase
Details ↓

Source: FishBase · v25.04, estimate table · CC BY-NC 4.0

Diet
carnivoreaverage
Details ↓

From trophic level 4.15 (FishBase): <2.2 herbivore, 2.2–2.8 omnivore, >2.8 carnivore.

Danger to humans
harmless
FishBase
Details ↓

Source: FishBase · v25.04 · CC BY-NC 4.0

Volume l
300 Laverage
Details ↓

Body mass at ~1.0 kg/L, the density of vertebrate tissue.

average = a mean across sexes or species in a group.

Not recorded for Chinese paddlefish yet: shoulder height, top speed, bite force, maximum lifespan.

More

More about the Chinese paddlefish

In other languages
白鲟 (zh), Schwertstör (de), Psephurus gladius (es), Psephurus gladius (fr), kardorrú tok (hu), Psephurus gladius (it) … and 20 more languages
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