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USGS · 70197074

Long-Term Movement and Estimated Age of a Paddlefish (Polyodon spathula) in the Arkansas River Basin of Oklahoma

James M. Long
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Abstract

We report the age and distance moved for an individual paddlefish ( Polyodon spathula ) that was tagged March 1998 in the Cimarron River Arm of Keystone Lake, Oklahoma, and snagged by an angler in April 2016 downstream of Eufaula Dam, Oklahoma. The fish was part of a cohort spawned in 1995. At the time of initial capture, the fish measured 795 mm eye–fork length, was estimated to be 3 y old, and 18 y had elapsed before its recapture by an angler in 2016, indicating this fish was 21 y old at recapture. Although paddlefish as old as 27 have been estimated in the Grand River basin of Oklahoma, this is the oldest fish known in the Arkansas River basin of Oklahoma. At the place of its recapture, this fish would have traveled approximately 235 km, passing downstream through three dams before moving upstream to Eufaula Dam.

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James M. Long. 2018. Long-Term Movement and Estimated Age of a Paddlefish (Polyodon spathula) in the Arkansas River Basin of Oklahoma. https://doi.org/10.1894/0038-4909-62.3.212

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