62 XEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 



iiiou in western liotcls. The uaiiies are derived from the re- 

 markable snout, which is produced into a long spatula-shaped 

 jiroeess, coA'ered above and below with an intricate network and 

 with very tliin Hexible ediics. Tiie head and snout form nearly 

 lialf of the eniire h'Ugth of the fisli. The fish can not be con- 

 founded with anything else in the waters of the United States. 

 Thei-e is in (Miina a similar fish. Avhich. how<^ver, belongs to a 

 different geuus. 



Distribution. The single species of American ])addlefish is 

 confined to the Mississippi valley. Jt inhabits only tlie larger 

 streams in I'ennsylvania. It is common in the Allegheny and 

 the Monongahela rivers. 



Size. The paddlefish grows to a length of feet, and a weight 

 of .SO i)Ouuds or more. 



Habits. The species frequents muddy bottoms, but does not 

 feed on tiie mud and slime, as many persons have supposed. 

 The long snout is useful in procuring its food, which consists 

 chierty of entomostracaiis, water worms, aquatic plants, leeches, 

 beetles and insect larvae. 



I'rof. S. A. Forbes, director of the Illinois Laboratory of 

 Natnriil History, has published the first and most satisfactory 

 iiccount of the feeding habits of this sharklike fish. He found 

 \'eiy lii t le niiid mixed with the food. Prof. Forbes was informed 

 by (lie lisiieniien thai the paddlefish plows up the mud in feed- 

 ing with its spatnlalike snout and then swims slowly backward 

 through the water. 



'The reiii;iikally devel<j)ed gill rakers of this species are 

 very niinieroiis iind fine, in a double row on each gill arch, and 

 they ;iie twice as long as the filaments of the gill. By their 

 inteihicinii iliey form ;i strainer scarcely less effective than the 

 fi'inges of the l)aleen plates .of the whale, and probably allow 

 the passa<;e t)[ the line sil" of the rivei- bed when this is thrown 

 into I he water by the shovel (.f the lish but arrests evervthing 

 as large as liie cyclops. I have not found anything recorded 

 as lo ihe sjiawning habits of the i>addletish. The young have 

 till' jaws and palate lilled with uiinnl<' leetli. which disapi)ear 

 w il li age." 



