PADDLE-FISH 305 



places its flesh is smoked and sold as sturgeon. Its eggs, 

 which are very numerous, and greenish black in color, make 

 excellent caviare, and are being so utilized at Louisville, Ken- 

 tucky, and along the Mississippi, in Mississippi and Tennessee. 



In 1899, sixteen states participated in the catching of 

 Paddle-Fish, Mississippi leading with 981,080 pounds, and 

 followed by Arkansas, Tennessee, Illinois and Missouri, in 

 the order named. The total catch was 2,543,950 pounds, 

 valued at $82,343. The records of four years later (1903, the 

 latest obtainable) show a great decline. The catch in 1903 

 was only 1,421,086 pounds, valued at $45,906. The caviare 

 product for that year amounted to 11,171 pounds, worth 

 $7,659. 



In a limited sense the Paddle-Fish inhabits the Missis- 

 sippi Valley, from Louisiana to Minnesota, the Ohio and the 

 Missouri to South Dakota, which is a wide range for a fish 

 so peculiarly formed. 



