Bowfin
Bowfin (Amia calva) is a freshwater species. The first thing to check: a very long, undulating dorsal fin running more than half the length of the back. The look-alike to rule out is Snakehead: snakeheads have a long anal fin to match the long dorsal and no gular plate. The bowfin's anal fin is short.
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| Scientific name | Amia calva |
|---|---|
| Also called | mudfish, dogfish, grinnel, choupique |
| Water | Freshwater |
| Group | Primitive fish |
| Temperature | Active from the 50s well into the high 80s °F. |
How to identify a Bowfin
- A very long, undulating dorsal fin running more than half the length of the back.
- A bony plate — the gular plate — between the two halves of the lower jaw, unique among North American freshwater fish.
- A dark eyespot ringed in orange or yellow at the top of the tail base, bold on males and faint or absent on females.
If you would rather not work through a key on a wet deck, photograph the fish and let the app name it — you get the common and the scientific name back, and the record is filed before you release.
Fish it is mistaken for
| Species | How to tell them apart |
|---|---|
| Snakehead | Snakeheads have a long anal fin to match the long dorsal and no gular plate. The bowfin's anal fin is short. |
| Burbot | Burbot are a cold-water cod with a single chin barbel and no gular plate. |
Side-by-side comparisons
Read the full entry for Burbot.
Where it lives
Slow, weedy, swampy water across the eastern and southern United States — oxbows, backwaters, canals and vegetated lake margins. Can gulp air, so it survives water that suffocates other fish.
Temperature
Active from the 50s well into the high 80s °F.
The conditions that matter
Bowfin breathe air through a modified swim bladder, which is why they thrive where dissolved oxygen collapses in summer heat. If your log shows bowfin dominating a backwater in August, that is a low-oxygen signature, and the same reading explains why the bass have left.
Global Fishing League records 18 weather and water readings against every catch automatically — tide stage, barometric pressure, water temperature, salinity, dissolved oxygen, chlorophyll, swell, current, moon phase and more, taken at your GPS position at the moment you log the fish. Over a season that turns a hunch about bowfin into a pattern you can read.
See every reading recorded with a catch, or the guides to what each reading means.
Size limits, bag limits and seasons
Size limits, bag limits, slot limits and seasons are set by your state wildlife agency — and for many offshore and migratory species by federal regulators — and on many waters they differ from the statewide rule. They also change between seasons. Check the current regulations for the exact water you are fishing before you keep a fish — we do not republish limits here, because a number that is a season out of date is worse than no number.
What the app does do is make your side of it accurate: every catch carries a length measured from the photograph, a GPS position and a timestamp, exportable if you ever need to show your work for a tournament or a record claim. It is also what a Global Fishing League entry is built from — a record that verifies itself, without publishing where you caught the fish.