Interestingly, male bowfins guard their young for several months until they’re able to forage and fend for themselves. In the wild, bowfin live to approximately 10 to 12 years old but can live up to 30 years if kept in captivity. The average length for bowfin is 20”, with females (26” – 28”) growing slightly larger than males (20” – 26”). This fin helps them swim both forward and backward equally well, making navigating heavily vegetated areas easier. The name ‘bowfin’ actually comes from their extra-long dorsal fin, which extends all the way from the mid-back to the base of the tail. Female bowfin typically have a smaller spot, or sometimes its absent altogether. Juvenile and male bowfin have a yellow-ringed eyespot near their tail, which acts to confuse predators by deflecting attacks from their head to the tail. Bowfin dorsal fins feature long horizontal stripes, and the caudal (tail) fin has irregular vertical stripes. Their bellies are lighter white or cream colored. Physical Characteristicsīowfin are typically olive to brown in color, with vertical bars and dark camouflaged spots across their flanks. In these situations, they can actually be seen breaking the water’s surface to take a gulp of air. This makes them incredibly versatile in terms of habitat – they can tolerate low-oxygen aquatic environments that would kill other fish species like perch, bass or walleye. They utilize their gills to breathe underwater and have a specialized gas bladder which allows them to breathe in air similar to a lung.
Like gars, bowfin are bimodal breathers, which means they’re able to breathe in both water and air. Because they’re stalking, ambush style predators, they tend to hang out near weed beds and other vegetation. They generally prefer clear, slow-moving water in lakes and rivers, and can be found feeding and spawning in the shallows and near riverbanks.
This means they’ve been around since dinosaurs roamed the earth! They’re closely related to the gar, and are the only remaining species of the subspecies Amiiformes – which dates back to the Jurassic period. 7.2) Bowfin Recipe What Kind of Fish is Bowfin?īowfin (Amia calva) are bony fish in the Holostei infraclass found throughout much of the eastern United States and parts of Canada.
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