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Paddlefish
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==Habitat and historic range== Over the past half century, paddlefish populations have been on the decline. Attributable causes are overfishing, pollution, and the encroachment of human development, including the construction of dams which block their seasonal upward migration to ancestral spawning grounds. Other detrimental effects include alterations of rivers which have changed the natural flow, and resulted in the loss of spawning habitat and nursery areas. American paddlefish have been extirpated from much of their Northern peripheral range, including the [[Great Lakes]] and Canada, [[New York (state)|New York]], [[Maryland]] and [[Pennsylvania]]. There is growing concern about their populations in other states. The Chinese paddlefish was considered [[anadromous]] with upstream migration, however little is known about their migration habits and population structure. They were endemic to the [[Yangtze River Basin]] in China where they lived primarily in the broad surfaced main stem rivers and shoal zones along the [[East China Sea]].<ref name=IUCN-Chinese/><ref name=UN-HFAO>{{cite web | title=FAO Fisheries & Aquaculture | ref={{sfnref | Home | Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations }} | url=https://www.fao.org/fishery/en/aqspecies/14620/enn | access-date=2022-04-24 }}</ref> Research suggests they preferred to navigate the middle and lower layers of the water column, and occasionally swam into large lakes.<ref name=IUCN-Chinese/> There have been no sightings of Chinese paddlefish since 2003, and were declared extinct in 2019.<ref name=SD2019/> Past attempts of [[artificial propagation]] for restoration purposes failed because of difficulties encountered in keeping captive fish alive.<ref name=Conservation>{{cite book | last=Helfman | first= Gene | year=2007 |publisher=Island Press |title=Fish Conservation: A guide to understanding and restoring global aquatic biodiversity and fishery resources }}</ref> American paddlefish are native to the Mississippi River basin from New York to Montana and south to the Gulf of Mexico.<ref name=TPW>{{cite web | title=Paddlefish (''Polyodon spathula'') | publisher=Texas Parks & Wildlife | url=http://tpwd.texas.gov/huntwild/wild/species/pad/ | access-date=April 20, 2016 | url-status=live | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160505071851/http://tpwd.texas.gov/huntwild/wild/species/pad/ | archive-date=May 5, 2016 }}</ref> They have been found in several Gulf Slope drainages in medium to large rivers with long, deep sluggish pools, as well as in backwater lakes and bayous.<ref name=INHS>{{cite report |title=INHS padfish |date=Spring 2002 |series=Prairie Research Institute |publisher=[[University of Illinois]] |place=Urbana-Champaign, IL |url=http://wwx.inhs.illinois.edu/resources/inhsreports/spring-02/padfish/ |url-status=live |access-date=May 28, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140529051611/http://wwx.inhs.illinois.edu/resources/inhsreports/spring-02/padfish/ |archive-date=May 29, 2014 }}</ref> In Texas, paddlefish occurred historically in the [[Angelina River]], [[Big Cypress Bayou]], [[Neches River]], tributaries of the [[Red River of the South|Red River]], [[Sabine River (Texas–Louisiana)|Sabine River]], [[San Jacinto River (Texas)|San Jacinto River]], [[Sulphur River]], and [[Trinity River (Texas)|Trinity River]].<ref name=TPW/> Their historical range also included occurrences in Canada in [[Lake Huron]] and [[Lake Helen (Ontario)|Lake Helen]], and in 26~27 other states in the United States. The [[Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources]] listed the paddlefish as extirpated from [[Ontario, Canada]] under their Endangered Species Act.<ref name=SAR>{{cite web | title=SAR Paddlefish | url=http://www.mnr.gov.on.ca/en/Business/Species/2ColumnSubPage/MNR_SAR_PADDLEFISH_EN.html | access-date=June 9, 2014 | url-status=live | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140714154356/http://www.mnr.gov.on.ca/en/Business/Species/2ColumnSubPage/MNR_SAR_PADDLEFISH_EN.html | archive-date=July 14, 2014 }}</ref> The [[IUCN Red List]] lists the Canadian populations of paddlefish as extirpated, noting there have been no Canadian records since the early 1900s and distribution in Canada was highly peripheral. As a species, the American paddlefish is classified as vulnerable (VU) on the IUCN Red List, and its international trade has been restricted since June 1992 under Appendix II of the [[CITES|Convention of International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Flora and Fauna]] ([[CITES]]).<ref name=Redlist>{{cite iucn |last=Grady |first=J. |year=2019 |collaboration=[[United States Fish and Wildlife Service]] |title=''Polyodon spathula'' |volume=2019 |page=e.T17938A174780447 |doi=10.2305/IUCN.UK.2019-3.RLTS.T17938A174780447.en |access-date=11 November 2021}}</ref>
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