One of the first trips I took with Zeb Hogan for the Megafishes Project was to China, where we did a story on two giant fish, the Chinese paddlefish and the Chinese Sturgeon. At the time, no Chinese paddlefish had been seen in the Yangtze River for several years.

Has the Chinese paddlefish gone extinct? It looks like that may be the case. I have not heard any reports of Chinese paddlefish being caught in the wild since our trip there in 2007. Here is some information from the website Extinction:

Chinese Paddlefish (Psephurus gladius)

Conservation Status: Critically Endangered

Cause of Decline: Habitat Loss

Location: Asia

China’s Yangtze River was once teeming with a particular species of so-called ‘megafish,’ the Chinese paddlefish. The largest specimen ever recorded was seven metres long and weighed 450kg, making it one of the largest freshwater fish in the world. They have silvery bodies with a long snout shaped like a paddle, perfectly adapted for filtering water to find the crustaceans and small fish that sustain them.

Historically, Chinese paddlefish were caught effortlessly by fishermen – they formed schools, swimming on the surface of the river and they were an easy target – and they were prized for their plentiful flesh and eggs. Even ancient Chinese emperors dined on the species. Overfishing has contributed significantly to the fate of the Chinese paddlefish today but worse was the construction of the Gezhouba Dam in 1981, restricting the population’s access to its spawning grounds, reducing its ability to breed.

The last sighting of a juvenile Chinese paddlefish was in 1995 and no specimens have been seen in the wild since 2003, despite several extensive searches. Research is set to investigate captive breeding of the species, as well as cloning or preserving genetic material. But in order to do so, at least one specimen has to first be found, a possibility that seems increasingly distant.

Some photos from our trip: