THE PADDLEFISHES 



Family I. Polyodontida 



BODY fusiform, scarcely compressed; skin smooth, scaleless; 

 snout lengthened and expanded into a long, thin, flat blade or 

 spatula, the inner part formed by the produced nasal bones, the 

 outer portion with a reticulate bony framework, the whole some- 

 what flexible; mouth broad and terminal, but overhung by the broad 

 spatulate snout; border of mouth formed by the premaxillaries, the 

 maxillaries being obsolete; jaws and palatines with numerous fine, 

 decidous teeth in the young, scarcely evident in the adult; no 

 tongue; spiracles present; opercle rudimentary, its skin produced 

 behind in a long, pointed flap; no pseudobranchiae; gills 4^; 

 gillrakers long, in a double series on each arch, the series divided 

 by a broad membrane; gill-membranes connected, but free from 

 the isthmus; a single broad branchiostegal ray; no barbels; nostrils 

 at the base of the blade and double; a well-developed and contin- 

 'uous lateral line, its lower margin with short branches; dorsal fin 

 placed posteriorly, of soft rays only; anal fin similar, somewhat 

 more posterior; tail heterocercal, the lower lobe, however, well- 

 developed, the tail being thus nearly equally forked; sides of the 

 upper caudal lobe armed with small, rhombic plates; pectoral fins 

 moderate, placed low; ventrals many-rayed, abdominal; air-bladder 

 cellular, not bifid; pyloric coeca a short, broad, branching, leaf-like 

 organ; intestine with a spiral valve; skeleton chiefly cartilaginous. 



This family contains but two known species Psephurus 

 gladius, a singular inhabitant of the fresh waters of China, and the 

 paddlefish found in the United States. 



Paddle-fish; Spoon-bill Cat 



Polyodon spathula (Walbaum) 



The Paddle-fish is one of the most singular and interesting 

 fishes occurring in American waters. Its home is in the bayous 



