Chinese paddlefish

Schwertstör ( Psephurus gladius)

The Schwertstör ( Psephurus gladius ) is the only species of the monotypic genus Psephurus. Its closest relative in the family of paddlefish is the American paddlefish ( Polyodon spathula ).

Appearance

The forehead is a powerful extension which reaches about one-third of the total length of the fish, pulled out. Sword sturgeon are over three meters long and up to 500 kg (Data on earlier longer lengths, up to 7 m, are not impossible, but interpreted with great caution ). The eyes are very small and weak ( the Yangtse is always cloudy). A big mouth serves the predator fishing. Apparently he can einschlürfen schools of small fish (eg herring ) by strain. But he also eats crustaceans from the ground. The upper side of the tail fin is with big shiny Ganoidschuppen, the Fulkren, covered, which explains the generic name: ( altgr. ) Psephurus means " smooth tail" (of psēphos " smoother pebble " )

By whitish, naked skin, fins short, wide and low Kiemendeckelsaum ossification makes the fish despite its size, an " immature " impression, so it Grande and Bemis in her great - comparative osteological study ( 1991) even compare with the pädomorphen Axolotl.

Occurrence

The up to 3.0 m long Schwertstör is endemic in China in the Yangtze and its tributaries. That's why he is also threatened by the construction of the Three Gorges Dam. There are researchers who already consider him to be extinct. Professionals in China hope for the " luck " that you can still captures reproductive females ready, because there we have frozen semen, you hundreds of thousands of larvae could raise so soon.