The American paddlefish, polychaete or paddlefish (Polyodon spathula) is a species of freshwater sturgeon in the paddlefish family. It is found in the Mississippi River basin and Lake Huron. It was imported to Poland in the 1990s. The snout — a rostrum shaped like a horizontally arranged paddle — is sometimes half the length of its entire body and functions as a sensory organ. ¹⁾