GROWING PADDLEFISH (April – June 2022) — In mid-April, staff at Blind Pony Hatchery released freshly hatched paddlefish fry into rearing ponds. In early June, after 8 weeks of feeding and care, the rearing ponds were drained and 56,000 paddlefish were loaded onto trucks and released. These fish were distributed between Lake of the Ozarks, Truman Reservoir, Table Rock Lake, and the Black River. Paddlefish are unable to reproduce naturally in much of Missouri due to the construction of dams, blocking spawning migrations and flooding of spawning grounds, in the mid-20th century.
Learn more: https://mdc.mo.gov/discover-nature/field-guide/paddlefish
