Chinese paddlefishes disappeared fromthe Earth

Psephurus gladius - Chinese paddlefishesare officially attributed to extinct species. Scientists have been searching for traces of the presence of this largest freshwater fish for several years to no avail. But they no longer swim in the Yangtze River, the correspondent of tvbrics.com reports with reference to rg.ru.

Paddlefishes or Psephurus gladius were one of two species of the oldest family of actinopterygian fishes, which waswidespread 34-75 million years ago. Only two species have survived: Chinese and American paddlefishes, and the second one still lives in the Mississippi River basin.

The disappeared paddlefishes reached 7 meters in length. 25 tons annually were fished out by fishermen three decades ago. But by the end of the last decade, the number of these fishes has declined sharply.

According to scientists, paddlefishes finally disappeared between 2005 and 2010. The last paddlefish was officially recorded in the Yangtze in 2003.

The reason for extinction is seen in the absence of reproduction. No one has paddlefishes in captivity, so the regeneration of the species is no longer possible.

It is worth noting that the paddlefish is not the only species that "unexpectedly" disappeared in the river – in recent years, scientists have not found 140 species of river fauna.

Photo: evrimagaci.org