Chinese paddlefish

The Chinese paddlefish (Psephurus gladius) (simplified Chinese: 白鲟; traditional Chinese: 白鱘; pinyin: báixún), also known as Chinese swordfish, is an extinct species of fish that was found in Yangtze and Yellow River basins in China. They had an average length of 3 m (9.8 ft),^[1] making it one of the largest species of primarily freshwater fishes.

The Chinese paddlefish display at a museum

The Chinese paddlefish was officially declared extinct in July 2022, with an estimated time of extinction to be by 2005–2010, although it had become functionally extinct by 1993.^[2] The main cause of its extinction was the construction of the Gezhouba and Three Gorges dams.^[3]