Freshwater Fish of America - American Paddlefish

American paddlefish are a very old species of fish. Their ancestors lived in modern day North America about 125 million years ago during the Late Cretaceous period, when some dinosaurs still roamed the Earth. Paddlefish inhabit slow-moving, large, deep, freshwater rivers and reservoirs. They eat by simply swimming around with their mouth open and inside their mouth are structures called gill rakers. As they swim, tiny plankton is trapped by the gill rakers and then swallowed. Although they eat tiny food, they eat lots of it! Paddlefish can also live for a long time with some specimens reported to have lived for 50 years or longer. When paddlefish are ready to reproduce, they can migrate hundreds of miles before spawning.