Paddle Fish in Raritan

[DanH]

I was fishing the Raritan one evening last week for smallmouths and doing pretty well when I spotted a carcass washed ashore upstream from where I was fishing.
I thought it might be a fawn, but as I got closer I could see it was a very large fish. When I got right up on it I could see that it was a paddlefish .
I've been fishing in NJ for decades and this is the only one I've ever seen !
Is this a rare fish in NJ ? Have any of you guys ever seen one in NJ ?