Chinese paddlefish
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Chinese Paddlefish | ||||||||||||||
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| Psephurus gladius (Martens, 1862) |
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Polyodon gladius |
Chinese Paddlefish, Psephuyrus gladius (simplified Chinese: 白鲟; traditional Chinese: 白鱘; pinyin: báixún), also known as Chinese Swordfish, are among the largest freshwater fish, and one of two extant paddlefish species. It is also called "elephant fish" (象魚; xiàngyú) because its snout resembles an elephant trunk. It is recorded sometimes in Classical Chinese as wěi-fish (鮪). More poetically, it is sometimes referred to as the "Giant Panda of the Rivers", not because of any physical resemblance to a panda, but because of its rarity and protected status.
The Chinese Paddlefish is the People's Republic of China's first-level protected animal. Its belly is white and back and head grey. They live mostly in the middle or lower part of the Yangtze (Chang Jiang), occasionally in large lakes. They feed on other fish, with a small amount of crabs and crayfish. They are sexually mature at seven or eight, with a body length of 2 metres and a weight of 25 kilograms.
It is said that the zoologist Bǐng Zhì (秉志) recorded around the 1950s that some fishermen caught a paddlefish of 7-metres, although the authenticity of the story is unconfirmed. It is said that the Chinese paddlefish can grow to 23 feet and weigh 1,100 pounds, but little research on a maximum size can be conducted today due to the species' scarcity.
Due to overfishing, the Chinese Paddlefish is endangered now, and officially recognized by the People's Republic in 1983 to prevent fishing of paddlefish young or adults. Paddlefish are also threatened by dams (like the Three Gorges Dam), which divide the population into isolated groups. The fish are rarely seen, recently raising concerns that the species might already be extinct. However, a 3.6-meter, 250 kilogram specimen was killed by illegal fishing on January 8, 2007, in Jiayu County on the Yangtze River.
They were once given the scientific names of Polyodon gladius and Polyodon angustifolium.
[edit] References
- Sturgeon Specialist Group (1996). Psephurus gladius. 2006 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. IUCN 2006. Retrieved on 11 May 2006. Listed as Critically Endangered (CR A2cd v2.3)
[edit] External links
- The Chinese Paddlefish Website - containing many photgraphs of Psephurus.
- "Psephurus gladius". FishBase. Ed. Ranier Froese and Daniel Pauly. October 2005 version. N.p.: FishBase, 2005.
- 150-kilogram female caught and released: Yibin, China
- Chinese Paddlefish Dies in Illegal Fishing (with image). Xinhua News Service, January 12, 2007. Accessed on July 12, 2007.
