Animal profile

Bowfin

Amia calva

ActinopterygiiWarm, weedy, low-oxygen backwaters, swamps and slow river marginsLeast Concern

Field profile

The bowfin is the only living member of an otherwise fossil lineage, a heavy-headed predator with a long undulating dorsal fin and a bony gular plate under the jaw. It gulps air and thrives where other predators suffocate.

Published field notes

2023-05-17

Bowfin

The bowfin is the last survivor of its order

Amia calva is the only living species of the Amiiformes, an order well represented in the fossil record from the Jurassic onward. Its nearest living relatives are the gars, and everything else in its branch of the ray-finned fishes is extinct.

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