Common name: American paddlefish, Mississippi paddlefish, paddlefish
Taxonomy:
Family: Polyodontidae
Order: Acipenseriformes
Class: Actinopterygii
Phylum: Chordata
Native range: North America
Date of introduction/first record: First individuals of P. spathula were delivered into fish farm “Beloe” from Russia (Astrakhan region) in 2001 (Konchits et al. 2003).
Vector: Intentional introduction.
Records in Belarus: Ponds of fish farms (Konchits et al. 2003).
Potential ecological impacts: Polyodon spathula almost exclusively feeds on zooplankton (e.g., Rosen and Hales 1981; Konchits et al. 2003), which implies a strong competition for food with other planktivorous fishes in regions where the paddlefish has been introduced. Besides, Polyodon hosts a range of parasites (e.g., Wilson 1956; Choudhury and Dick 2001), and potentially can lead to worsening of the epizootic situation in invaded waterbodies.
Choudhury A and Dick TA (2001) Sturgeons (Chondrostei: Acipenseridae) and their metazoan parasites: patterns and processes in historical biogeography. Journal of Biogeography 28(11/12): 1411-1439
Konchits VV, Chutaeva AI, Mamedov RA, Dokuchaeva SI, Sennikova VD, Us VV, Fedorova VG, Khasenevich AI (2003) First experience of the rearing of paddlefish in fish farms of Belarus. Voprosy Rybnogo Khozyaystva Belarusi 19: 102-112
Rosen RA and Hales DC (1981) Feeding of paddlefish, Polyodon spathula. Copeia 1981(2): 441-455
Wilson WD (1956) Notes on cestodes in paddlefish, Polyodon spathula (Walbaum), from the Missouri River. Transactions of the Kansas Academy of Science 59(4): 459-460
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