Overview
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.