wth is this?
- Thread starter PeteJ
- Start date
fast reply!
my friend had the picture, it was apparently kept in with neons in a largeish planted tank.
cant imagine when its full grown it would do all to well in there!
my friend had the picture, it was apparently kept in with neons in a largeish planted tank.
cant imagine when its full grown it would do all to well in there!
PaddleFish
Paddlefish are well adapted to living in rivers. Paddlefish are known to occur from large rivers throughout much of the Mississippi Valley and adjacent Gulf slope drainages in North America. They frequent many types of riverine habitats but often seek out deeper, low current areas such as side channels, backwaters, oxbow and other river-lakes, and tailwaters below dams. Paddlefish are highly mobile and have been observed to move more than 2000 miles in a river system.
Paddlefish can be distinguished from other freshwater fish by the presence of a very large mouth, and a long, paddle-shaped snout (called a rostrum) that is about one third the length of the body. Early investigators thought that paddlefish used the rostrum to dig food items from the bottom or to dislodge them from vegetation.
These ideas were refuted when paddlefish were found to be filter feeders, straining zooplankton out of the water column. Gill arches are the predominant features seen inside the paddlefish's mouth. Paddlefish swim with their mouth open, indiscriminately filtering the water. The gill arches have filaments on them called gill rakers that sieve the zooplankton organisms from the water.
One recent study demonstrated that electrosensory receptors in paddlefish rostrum can detect weak electrical fields and suggested that paddlefish use their rostrum as an electrosensory "antenna" to detect zooplankton. Although the rostrum may aid the paddlefish in finding concentrations of zooplankton for feeding, some studies have shown that paddlefish with missing or severely damaged rostrums appear to be in good condition and grow similarly to those paddlefish with healthy, intact rostrums.
Paddlefish are one of the largest freshwater fishes in North America, commonly reaching 5 feet or more in length and 60 pounds in weight. The largest paddlefish on record was caught in Iowa and weighed 198 pounds. Although determining their age is difficult, some studies have recently estimated that paddlefish may live in excess of 50 years.
Paddlefish were once common in the fish assemblage in central U.S. rivers, but populations have declined in many systems. Paddlefish populations have been negatively affected by overharvest, sedimentation, and river modifications.
Dams in particular have had an adverse affect on paddlefish because they alter traditional paddlefish habitats and can block spawning migrations and other movements. Paddlefish populations dramatically declined from overfishing after the turn of the last century. Concern for paddlefish stocks has recently risen because the collapse of most sturgeon stocks in the world has fueled increased demand for paddlefish eggs for the lucrative caviar trade.
Paddlefish are not closely related to sharks, but they do share some common characteristics including a skeleton primarily composed of cartilage, and a deeply forked, abbreviate heterocercal tail fin (the top fin lobe is slightly larger than the lower fin lobe). Paddlefish are one of the oldest fishes, with fossil records dating their first appearance at 300 to 400 million years ago (about 50 million years before the first dinosaurs appeared). The North American paddlefish (Polyodon spathula) has only one other species as a member of the same family. The Chinese paddlefish (Psephurus gladius) is found in the Yangtze River and has a cone-shaped snout rather than the long, paddle-like snout (known as a rostrum) of the North American paddlefish.
definetly a north america paddlefish
where did he come across those? they are an endangered species, so i'm pretty sure trade of them is illegal.
where did he come across those? they are an endangered species, so i'm pretty sure trade of them is illegal.
I have snagged and bowfished a couple. Keeping them in the aquarium is ridiculous considering their size and that they are endangered. Pretty sure you could get into big trouble for posession of one. I wonder how he aquired his....
i have no idea! my mate cant even remember what site he plucked it from!
certainly not clever to keep them in aquaria.
certainly not clever to keep them in aquaria.