JANUARY, 1902. THE POLYODON SPATHULA. 86 
The Paddle Fish (Polyodon Spathula). 
By HORACE BEACH, Sr. 
This fish attracted my attention some forty years since on 
account of its odd and unusual form. Barton W. Everman, 
United States Ichthyologist, writes me that "this species was 
first named by Walbaum in 1792, Sqiialus spalhula; later in 1801 
Bloch and Schneider called it Polyodon folium, thinking it was 
a new species, but as the fish of Bloch and Schneider and that 
of Walbaum are specifically identical and as Walbaum's is the 
older name it must be accepted for the species. The fish is not 
a Squalus as thought by Walbaum, but belongs to the genus Poly- 
odon, the correct Latin name is Polyodon spathula and not Poly- 
odon folium, as you see in some books. 
The Polyodon spathula belongs to the family of Polyodontidac, 
and ''is found in the Mississippi and the Ohio, and their tribu- 
taries, in Lake Erie and in southern w^aters." It is a naked car- 
tilaginous fish, its skin in color and appearance somewhat re- 
sembling the catfish. Its common name in different localities is 
paddle fish, spoonbill cat, shovel-nosed sturgeon, etc. It is edible, 
its flesh being white and savory. The fishermen cut ofif the head 
and tail and sell it for ''boneless cat." Everman informs me 
that the roe makes good cavier. The mature fish is from 4 to 5 
feet in length. I have seen them over 4 feet. Jacob Scrogum, a 
reliable fisherman, told me that he once caught one that was 5 feet 
in length. The smallest caught are from 10 to 12 inches in 
length and have an abundance of sharp needle like teeth, whereas 
the mature fish is toothless. This would seem to indicate that 
the small fish have a different method of obtaininig their food 
from the mature fish. It has a heterocercal tail, a svmmetrical 
body from the tail to the head, which seems abnormally large, a 
toothless mouth capable of opening very wide, a slender under 
jaw, and very long gill-covers extending backward from the gill 
openings over the smooth naked skin, and capable of being closed 
water tight. It has ample gill-rakes, small eyes located well for- 
ward and low down, and two blow holes located back of the 
junction of the paddle. The paddle or spatula is a little more than 
one-fourth the whole length of the fish. It is composed of a beau- 
tiful network of cartilaginous bones which are covered with a 
stout skin. The fish subsists in part if not wholly on confervae, 
consisting of a tubular water plant which grows in great abund- 
ance on or near the surface of the water. I have formed a theory 
as to the manner in which the fish manages to collect and swallow 
