The American paddlefish (Polyodon spathula) is a species of basal ray-finned fish closely related to sturgeons in the order Acipenseriformes. Fossil records of paddlefish date back over 125 million years to the Early Cretaceous. The American paddlefish is a smooth-skinned freshwater fish commonly called paddlefish, and is also referred to as Mississippi paddlefish, spoon-billed cat, or spoonbill. It is the only living species in the paddlefish family, Polyodontidae. The other recently-surviving member of this lineage is the possibly now extinct Chinese paddlefish (Psephurus gladius) endemic to the Yangtze River basin in China. The American paddlefish is often referred to as a primitive fish or a relict species because it retains some morphological characteristics of its early ancestors, in