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Paddlefish Rearing and Release
Shreveport Aquarium, in partnership with Caddo Lake Institute is actively rearing and reintroducing the American Paddlefish into areas where it has locally gone extinct.
By raising this freshwater species onsite, the public can see and learn about them before the annual release into Caddo Lake. Although once common in Caddo Lake, the 300 million year old species had completely disappeared from the lake in the 70s. Elsewhere, American Paddlefish populations have declined dramatically, primarily because of overfishing, habitat destruction, dam building and pollution.
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Shreveport Aquarium was also able to obtain certification for a National American Paddlefish Day for March 9 each year. The national day application was submitted and awarded in 2019 to bring more awareness to the plight of the American Paddlefish. Each year on or around that date the aquarium holds an annual Paddlefish Festival event featuring educational speakers, displays, recycled art contests and activities. The celebration ends with a paddlefish send-off where the newly reared paddlefish are transported off-site and released into the Caddo Waterways.
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Come visit these unique prehistoric filter feeders to learn all about how the use their electroreceptors to locate food and other weird and wonderful facts!
