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The Chinese paddlefish had a white underbelly, and its back and head were grey.<ref name=":2" /> Its [[dorsal fin|dorsal]] and [[anal fin]]s were situated considerably far back on the body. The paddle-like [[Rostrum (anatomy)|rostrum]] was narrow and pointed, and was between a quarter and up to a third of total body length.<ref name="FAO fact sheet">{{Cite web |title=Species Fact Sheets: Psephurus gladius (Martens, 1862) |publisher=Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations |url=https://www.fao.org/fishery/en/species/14620/en |access-date=1 February 2019 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091003115813/http://www.fao.org/fishery/species/14620/en |archive-date=3 October 2009}}</ref> Its eyes were small and round.<ref name=":2">{{Cite journal |last1=Gao |first1=Xin |last2=Wang |first2=Jian Wei |last3=Brosse |first3=Sébastien |date=April 2009 |title=Threatened fishes of the world: Psephurus gladius (Martens, 1862) (Acipenseriformes: polyodontidae) |language=en |journal=Environmental Biology of Fishes |issn=0378-1909 |doi=10.1007/s10641-009-9443-1 |s2cid=38833459 |volume=84 |issue=4 |pages=421–422}}</ref> The skull is more elongate and narrower than that of the American paddlefish, and lacked the sculpturing present on the skull bones of other paddlefish.<ref name=Grande1991>{{Cite journal |last1=Grande |first1=Lance |last2=Bemis |first2=William E. |date=1991-03-28 |title=Osteology and Phylogenetic Relationships of Fossil and Recent Paddlefishes (Polyodontidae) with Comments on the Interrelationships of Acipenseriformes |language=en |journal=Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology |issn=0272-4634 |doi=10.1080/02724634.1991.10011424 |volume=11 |issue=sup001 |pages=1–121 |url=http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/02724634.1991.10011424}}</ref> The teeth were small, and became proportionally smaller relative to the jaw during growth. Compared to ''Polyodon'', the jaws were shorter, and had a proportionately narrower gape. Unlike the American paddlefish, but similar to fossil paddlefish, the upper jaw was not firmly attached to the [[braincase]].<ref name="Grande1991" /> The [[Caudal fin|tail fin]] was [[heterocercal]] (spine extending into the upper lobe), with the lower lobe being well developed.<ref name="FAO fact sheet" /> Like the American paddlefish the skeleton was largely [[Cartilage|cartilaginous]].<ref>{{Citation |last=Miller |first=Michael J. |editor1-last=LeBreton |editor1-first=Greg T. O. |editor2-last=Beamish |editor2-first=F. William H. |editor3-last=McKinley |editor3-first=R. Scott |date=2005 |title=The Ecology and Functional Morphology of Feeding of North American Sturgeon and Paddlefish |language=en |work=Sturgeons and Paddlefish of North America |series=Fish & Fisheries Series |publisher=Kluwer Academic Publishers |place=Dordrecht |doi=10.1007/1-4020-2833-4_5 |isbn=978-1-4020-2832-8 |volume=27 |pages=87–102 |url=http://link.springer.com/10.1007/1-4020-2833-4_5 |access-date=22 July 2022 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220725001401/https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/1-4020-2833-4_5 |archive-date=25 July 2022}}</ref> The body lacked scales,<ref name=":2" /> except for small scales in the [[caudal peduncle]] and caudal fin.<ref name="FAO fact sheet" />
Juveniles attained a weight of around {{convert|1 to 1.5|kg|lb|0|abbr=off}} by their first winter and a length of {{convert|1|m|ft|0|abbr=on}} and a weight of about {{convert|3.3|kg|lboz|abbr=on}} by the time they were a year old. Beyond this length, proportional weight gain relative to body length dramatically increased, reaching a weight of about {{convert|12.5|kg|lb|0|abbr=on}} by the time they were around {{convert|1.5|m|ft|0|abbr=on}} long. They reached sexual maturity at a weight of around {{convert|25|kg|abbr=on}}.<ref name=Chenan1988/> [[John Treadwell Nichols]], in his 1943 work ''The Fresh-water Fishes of China,'' quotes a 1931 Chinese language report by L. Ping, in which Nichols reported that it was stated that the Chinese paddlefish "may reach a length of about {{convert|7|m|abbr=off}}" but this may be a translation error.<ref name=Grande1991/> A more conservative estimate for maximum size is a weight of {{convert|300|kg|abbr=on}} and a length of {{convert|3|m|abbr=on|0}}.<ref name="fishbase">{{FishBase|genus=Psephurus|species=gladius|month=July|year=2010}}</ref>
==Taxonomy and evolutionary history==
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