A 2019 study reaffirmed the species as likely extinct following extensive capture surveys of the Yangtze between 2017 and 2018 that did not report any live specimens of the paddlefish. The paper estimated that the species went extinct between 2005 and 2010, and became functionally extinct by 1993. The study found the species' extinction to have been primarily caused by overfishing and habitat fragmentation, with one of the main contributors being the construction of the Gezhouba Dam in 1981.