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Paddlefish Animal Pictures

© Natalia Belay/Shutterstock.com

Chinese paddlefish swims with open mouth.
© Natalia Belay/Shutterstock.com

Over-fishing played a large role in the demise of this fish.

The American paddlefish (Polyodon spathula)
© Marina Veder/Shutterstock.com

By USFWS - https://digitalmedia.fws.gov/, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=89547873

The Mississippi Paddlefish
© Saran Jantraurai/Shutterstock.com

By USFWS Mountain-Prairie - Paddlefish fingerling, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=87173975

Paddlefish on white background
© Oleksandr Lytvynenko/Shutterstock.com

American Paddlefish are classified as a primitive fish species, which means that they have many physical characteristics in common with the earliest fish.

American Paddlefish swimming in a stream
© Saran Jantraurai/Shutterstock.com

The American Paddlefish is smooth-skinned and almost entirely comprised of cartilage.