Editing American paddlefish (section)

==Habitat and distribution==
[[File:Paddlefish distribution.png|thumb|260px|Map of the United States showing distribution of paddlefish]]

American paddlefish are highly mobile and well adapted to living in rivers.<ref name=UMESC/> They inhabit many types of riverine habitats throughout much of the Mississippi Valley and adjacent Gulf slope drainages. They occur most frequently in deeper, low current areas such as side channels, oxbows, backwater lakes, bayous, and tailwaters below dams. They have been observed to move more than {{convert|2000|mi|km|abbr=on}} in a river system.<ref name=UMESC/>

American paddlefish are endemic to the Mississippi River Basin, historically occurring from the [[Missouri River|Missouri]] and [[Yellowstone River|Yellowstone]] rivers in the northwest to the Ohio and Allegheny rivers of the northeast; the headwaters of the Mississippi River south to its mouth, from the [[San Jacinto River (Texas)|San Jacinto River]] in the southwest to the [[Tombigbee River|Tombigbee]] and [[Alabama River|Alabama]] rivers of the southeast.<ref name="Jennings"/> They were extirpated from New York, Maryland and Pennsylvania, as well as from much of their peripheral range in the Great Lakes region, including Lake Huron and Lake Helen in Canada.<ref name=IUCN2/><ref name=EWS/> In 1991, Pennsylvania implemented a [[species reintroduction|reintroduction]] program utilizing [[hatchery]]-reared American paddlefish in an effort to establish self-sustaining populations in the upper Ohio and lower Allegheny rivers. In 1998, New York initiated a stocking program upstream in the [[Allegheny Reservoir]] above Kinzua Dam, and a second stocking in 2006 in [[Conewango Creek]], a relatively unaltered section of their historic range. Reports of free ranging adults captured by gill nets have since been documented in Pennsylvania and New York, but there is no evidence of natural reproduction.<ref name="Status">{{cite book|author1=Phillip W. Bettoli|url=https://usgs-cru-individual-data.s3.amazonaws.com/pbettoli/intellcont/Status%2520of%2520Paddlefish_May%25202009%2520Proofs-1.pdf|title=Status of Paddlefish in the United States|author2=Janice A. Kerns|author3=George D. Scholten|date=December 2009|journal=Paddlefish Management, Propagation, and Conservation in the 21st Century|publisher=American Fisheries Society|isbn=978-1-934874-12-7|editor1=Craig P. Paukert|pages=1–16|editor2=George D. Scholten|issue=66|access-date=January 27, 2022|archive-date=April 23, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220423100349/https://usgs-cru-individual-data.s3.amazonaws.com/pbettoli/intellcont/Status%20of%20Paddlefish_May%202009%20Proofs-1.pdf|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref name="Argent">{{cite book|url=http://www.secure.fisheries.org/proofs/pad/argent.pdf |publisher=American Fisheries Society |title=Paddlefish Restoration to the Upper Ohio and Allegheny River Systems |journal=Paddlefish Management, Propagation, and Conservation in the 21st Century |editor1=Craig P. Paukert |editor2=George D. Scholten |author1=David G. Argent |author2=William G. Kimmel |author3=Rick Lorson |author4=Paul McKeown |author5=Doug M. Carlson |author6=Mike Clancy |issue=66 |pages=1–13 |date=December 2009 |access-date=June 20, 2014 |isbn=978-1-934874-12-7 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140714122958/http://www.secure.fisheries.org/proofs/pad/argent.pdf |archive-date=July 14, 2014 }}</ref> They are currently found in 22 states in the US, and are protected under state and federal laws. There are 13 states that allow commercial or sport fishing for American paddlefish.<ref name="LSU"/>