白鲟（学名：Psephurus gladius），或称作中华匙吻鲟，和生活在密西西比河的匙吻鲟同属匙吻鲟科的亚种。另名为中国剑鱼，是最大的淡水鱼类。因为其吻部长状如象鼻，又俗称为象鱼。中国古代白鲟被称之为鲔。当代因为其生存水域遭受破坏，其物种稀少，所以有“水中大熊猫”之称。

白鲟被列为中国一类保护动物，其物种受到严格的保护。其个体腹部黑白色头部灰色，种群多生活于长江中下游水域，个别的生存于水域广阔的湖泊中。白鲟与中华鲟生活水域相同，故四川民间渔民中流传有“千斤腊子万斤象，黄排大得不像样”之说，其中腊子指的是中华鲟，象鱼就是指的白鲟，黄排指代胭脂鱼。白鲟以其他鱼类和小型虾蟹为食。其个体7－8年成熟，身长可达2米体重达到25公斤。根据动物学家秉志记载20世纪五十年代有渔民捕获过7米长的白鲟，虽然该记录没有获得确认。

Chinese paddlefish, Psephurus gladius (simplified Chinese:白鲟; traditional Chinese:白鱘; pinyin:báixún), also known as Chinese swordfish, are among the largest freshwater fish. It is one of two extant species in the paddlefish family (Polyodontidae), the other being the American paddlefish (Polyodon spathula). It is also called "elephant fish" (象魚; xiàngyú) because its snout resembles an elephant trunk. It is recorded sometimes in Classical Chinese as wěi-fish (鮪). More poetically, it is sometimes referred to as the "Giant Panda of the Rivers", not because of any physical resemblance to a panda, but because of its rarity and protected status. The origin of its binomial name comes from the Greek words pseph (pebble) and phoreus (bearer of), which when combined, also shares the meaning of the Greek word psepharos (gloomy/cloudy one.)