Editing Chinese paddlefish (section)

==Description==
[[File:A specimen of Psephurus gladius, Museum of Hydrobiological Sciences, Wuhan Institute of Hydrobiology (3).jpg|left|thumb|A specimen at Museum of Hydrobiological Sciences, [[Wuhan Institute of Hydrobiology]]]]

The Chinese paddlefish had a white underbelly, and its back and head were grey.<ref name=":2" /> Its [[dorsal fin|dorsal]] and [[anal fin]]s were situated considerably far back on the body. The paddle-like [[Rostrum (anatomy)|rostrum]] was narrow and pointed, and was between a quarter and up to a third of total body length.<ref name="FAO fact sheet">{{Cite web |title=Species Fact Sheets: Psephurus gladius (Martens, 1862) |url=https://www.fao.org/fishery/en/species/14620/en |url-status=unfit |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091003115813/http://www.fao.org/fishery/species/14620/en |archive-date=3 October 2009 |access-date=1 February 2019 |publisher=Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations}}</ref> Its eyes were small and round.<ref name=":2">{{Cite journal |last1=Gao |first1=Xin |last2=Wang |first2=Jian Wei |last3=Brosse |first3=Sébastien |date=April 2009 |title=Threatened fishes of the world: Psephurus gladius (Martens, 1862) (Acipenseriformes: polyodontidae) |language=en |journal=Environmental Biology of Fishes  |issn=0378-1909 |doi=10.1007/s10641-009-9443-1 |s2cid=38833459 |volume=84 |issue=4 |pages=421–422|bibcode=2009EnvBF..84..421G }}</ref> The [[Caudal fin|tail fin]] was [[heterocercal]] (spine extending into the upper lobe), with the lower lobe being well developed.<ref name="FAO fact sheet" /> The skull is more elongate and narrower than that of the American paddlefish, and lacks the sculpturing present on the skull bones of other paddlefish, with the stellate (star-shaped) bones on the rostrum less numerous than those of the American paddlefish.<ref name=Grande1991>{{Cite journal |last1=Grande |first1=Lance |last2=Bemis |first2=William E. |date=1991-03-28 |title=Osteology and Phylogenetic Relationships of Fossil and Recent Paddlefishes (Polyodontidae) with Comments on the Interrelationships of Acipenseriformes |language=en |journal=Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology |issn=0272-4634 |doi=10.1080/02724634.1991.10011424 |volume=11 |issue=sup001 |pages=1–121 |bibcode=1991JVPal..11S...1G |url=http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/02724634.1991.10011424|url-access=subscription }}</ref> The teeth were small, sharp, [[Canine tooth|canine]] shaped and inward curling, and became proportionally smaller relative to the jaw during growth, and in mature adults were completely fused into the bone. Compared to ''Polyodon'', the jaws were shorter, and had a proportionately narrower gape, and unlike the American paddlefish, but similar to fossil paddlefish, the upper jaw was not firmly attached to the [[braincase]].<ref name="Grande1991" /> Like other paddlefish, the skeleton was largely [[Cartilage|cartilaginous]].<ref>{{Citation |last=Miller |first=Michael J. |editor1-last=LeBreton |editor1-first=Greg T. O. |editor2-last=Beamish |editor2-first=F. William H. |editor3-last=McKinley |editor3-first=R. Scott |date=2005 |title=The Ecology and Functional Morphology of Feeding of North American Sturgeon and Paddlefish |language=en |work=Sturgeons and Paddlefish of North America |series=Fish & Fisheries Series |publisher=Kluwer Academic Publishers |place=Dordrecht |doi=10.1007/1-4020-2833-4_5 |isbn=978-1-4020-2832-8 |volume=27 |pages=87–102 |url=http://link.springer.com/10.1007/1-4020-2833-4_5 |access-date=22 July 2022 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220725001401/https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/1-4020-2833-4_5 |archive-date=25 July 2022|url-access=subscription }}</ref> The body lacked scales,<ref name=":2" /> except for small scales in the [[caudal peduncle]] and caudal fin.<ref name="FAO fact sheet" />

Juveniles attained a weight of around {{convert|1 to 1.5|kg|lb|0}} by their first winter and a length of {{cvt|1|m|ft|0}} and a weight of about {{cvt|3.3|kg|lboz}} by the time they were a year old. Beyond this length, proportional weight gain relative to body length dramatically increased, reaching a weight of about {{cvt|12.5|kg|lb|0}} by the time they were around {{cvt|1.5|m|ft|0}} long. They reached sexual maturity at a weight of around {{cvt|25|kg}}.<ref name=Chenan1988/> The maximum length of the Chinese paddlefish is often quoted as {{cvt|7|m|ft}}, with this estimate apparently being given by [[Bing Zhi|C. Ping]] (1931), though according to Grande and Bemis (1991), specimens over {{Convert|3|m|ft|0|spell=on}} had not been definitively measured.<ref name="Grande1991" /> Ping recorded that fishermen in [[Nanjing]] caught a Chinese paddlefish with a length of {{convert|7|m}} and a weight of {{convert|907|kg}}.<ref>{{cite book |title=Contributions from the Biological Laboratory of the Science Society of China: Zoological series |volume=7 |year=1931 |page=189}}</ref> [[FishBase]] and [[World Wide Fund for Nature]] gives a conservative maximum weight of {{cvt|300|-|500|kg}}.<ref name="fishbase">{{FishBase|genus=Psephurus|species=gladius|month=July|year=2010}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=River of Giants: Giant Fish of the Mekong|year=2012|publisher=WWF for Nature|url=https://d2ouvy59p0dg6k.cloudfront.net/downloads/new_river_of_giants_report_14_may_2010_web_version.pdf}}</ref> Female fish are suggested to have grown larger than male fish once sexually mature, though they grew at similar rates prior to this.<ref>J. Ma, Z. Deng, X. Deng, M. Cai [http://ssswxb.ihb.ac.cn/article/app/id/14e3f46d-f929-4188-84d5-6e63aef4acf6?pageType=en Age determination and growth of Chinese paddlefish ''Psephurus gladius''] Acta Hydrobiologica Sinica, 20 (2) (1996), pp. 150–159 (in Chinese with English abstract)</ref> The lifespan has been estimated at 29–38 years, though the theoretical maximum lifespan is likely to have been significantly higher, as the estimate reflects anthropogenic impacts on the population.<ref name="Zhang Jarić Roberts He 2020 p=136242" />