Thread by @SolomonRDavid

Hello @CNN @cnni, these fish are NOT Chinese Paddlefish, they’re American Paddlefish. amp.cnn.com/cnn/2020/01/07…

SO MANY news stories are posting the incorrect species.

Important for media to properly ID species, especially regarding extinction and biodiversity loss. 1/2

It’s not hard to find correct images/ID. THESE are Chinese Paddlefish (📷Liu Chen Han dotearth.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/09/30/ano…)

And no, these fish likely didn’t reach 23 ft long (anecdotal report), verified max length is ~12 ft long. 2/2

NONE of these photos in recent media stories are Chinese Paddlefish.

First three are American Paddlefish, last pic isn’t even a paddlefish (it’s a sturgeon)🤷‍♂️

Journalists, #TeamFish is here to help with future stories 🐟👍

OK @LiveScience, please see above tweets. Your header image is not a Chinese Paddlefish, it’s an American Paddlefish.

Proper species ID matters! Especially concerning extinction & biodiversity loss! livescience.com/chinese-paddle…

ALSO, to many outlets reporting on this: the fish has never been verified to reach 23 ft long!

I know this makes for exciting headlines, but it’s inaccurate.

We don’t seem to report anecdotal size for Elephants, Great White Sharks, or Pandas, why for new(ly extinct) species?

UPDATE: @LiveScience is updating their image/info (thanks @LaMinda!)

Whereas @CNN @cnni et al still have incorrect images 🤷‍♂️

@NatGeo has inaccurate maximum size info (23 ft) throughout 🙃

ACCURATE SIZE & IMAGES HERE (max ~12 ft) @FishBaseProject fishbase.org/Summary/Specie…

Thanks for the updates @LiveScience @LaMinda! livescience.com/chinese-paddle…