English

Alternative forms

• duck-bill cat

Noun

duckbill cat ‎(plural duckbill cats)

1. Polyodon spathula
   • 1880, Mollusca, Crustacea, Vertebrata, page 1004:

     Polyodon spathula Walbaum (“Duck-Bill Cat”). — This fish, which is sometimes called “paddle fish,” from the peculiar […] The “duck-bill” is very abundant in the lower Ohio, so much so that it is often a nuisance to fishermen who use seines.

   • 1892, The American Angler, volume 22, page 89:

     Taking up the fishes of American waters, striatum, as previously scheduled, we now reach the duck-bill catfish {Polyodon spathula)

   • 1911, United States. Bureau of the Census, ‎United States. Bureau of Fisheries, Fisheries of the United States, 1908, page 75:

     The paddlefish (Polyodon spathula), locally known as "spoonbill," "duckbill cat," and "shovelfish, " is found in all the larger streams of the Mississippi Valley

Synonyms

• (Polyodon spathula): paddlefish, shovelfish, spoonbill, duck-bill catfish, Mississippi paddlefish, spadefish, spoonbill cat, spoonbill catfish