Extinct 2022 CE • China
"China’s Yangtze River, the world’s third longest river, is home to 378 known species of fish. But the Chinese paddlefish, once a common freshwater fish in the region, is no longer a member of this vast ecosystem. After over a decade of searching, researchers say the species completely disappeared between 2005 and 2010, with the last confirmed sighting in 2003 . . . The Chinese paddlefish (Psephurus gladius), also known as the Chinese swordfish and sometimes called the “panda of the Yangtze,” was one of the world’s largest freshwater fish species." In 2020, the Chinese paddlefish was officially declared extinct.
Lily Katzman, "The Chinese Paddlefish, Which Lived for 200 Million Years, Is Now Extinct," Smithsonian Magazine, January 10, 2020.
Image: shankar s. via Flickr, CC BY 2.0 DEED Attribution 2.0 Generic
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