体长，前部稍扁平，中段粗壮，后部略侧扁。头极长，可超过体长之半，其上布有梅花状的陷器。吻特长，基部宽厚，前端尖细，略平扁。口极大，下位，弧形。凳上具细尖齿。吻腹面有短须1对。鳃孔甚大。鳃盖膜后端尖形。背鳍均为不分枝鳍条，起点在腹鳍起点之后；腹鳍近腹面；尾鳍歪形，上叶发达，前缘具棘状鳞。体无鳞。侧线完全，伸向尾鳍上叶。肠短，具螺旋瓣。鳔大，1室。体背和头尾部青灰，腹部白色

It is one of the large-size freshwater fishes and there and records that the largest of the fish was as long as 7 m, weighing over several thousand kg. It lives in broad surfaced main streams of large rivers, staying usually in middle and lower layers of water and occasionally swims into large lakes. It is a kind of ferocious fish that feeds on other fishes. Its spawning period is in March and April and it spawns in sites in the upper reaches of the Changjiang River. The color of matured roe is grayish black and large

黄海,东海,长江干支流,钱塘江