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American Caviar

Thought this was interesting, It produces the only true American Caviar, said to rival Russian. I threw in a link at the bottom. See if you like it, or delete it if too commercial.... Msjayhawk (talk) 02:02, 26 November 2007 (UTC)

orange spot

this needs to say something about the orange spot that distinguishes males from females.

Nocturnal Feeders?

Whoever wrote this article doesn't know a thing about bowfin behavior, or has not observed them extensively in the wild. Bowfin are more apt to feed in the middle of the day as in the dead of night. Using the term "nocturnal" implies that the fish is exclusively a night feeder, and remains torpid or under cover during daylight hours. This is obviously false. While bowfin may occasionally feed at night, they hunt and feed throughout the daylight hours. An argument could be made that they are crepuscular, but even this is a stretch. Bowfin are sight feeders, attacking their living prey from ambush points.

Do you have a source to cite for all this? The ones in the external links don't seem to mention day or night, which suggests that the "nocturnal" should be deleted, but we need a citeable reference to add anything else. Stan 14:47, 6 December 2005 (UTC)

I remember growing up and fishing the lakes of central Florida, Mud Lake in Polk City, Florida in particular, catching Bowfin (Mudfish is what we called them). We caught them typically from 2 hours after sunrise until the midafternoon. They would hit lures intended for largemouth bass in the areas typically inhabited by largemouth bass. We also caught a number of largemouth bass with bite scars from Bowfin (Mudfish). Many times we would find dead bass on the surface as well that had similar scars. This was about 1982-1985. These were not alligator bite scars either, the rows of teeth marks were two narrow, and alligators were still endangered at that time.Fyrdawg589 12:19, 2 December 2006 (UTC)

Update to feeding patterns: I landed one tonight at 1945 May 16, 2007 on Lake Murray from a dock in Chapin, South Carolina. He was approximately 8 pounds and put up a tough fight. Scratched my lure all to pieces as well. He was caught on a 3/4 ounce surface popper that was marketed for catching striped bass. It does somewhat resemble a baby largemouth bass.

Sunset for tonight was forecast to be at 2021 EDT, and we have an approaching cold front that really has the atmosphere churned up right now.

Finally in true mudfish form he evacuated his bowels all over my dock when I pulled him out of the water as well.Fyrdawg589 00:36, 17 May 2007 (UTC)

I only have an anecdotal account to offer as well, but I have often observed these fish active during the day. This occurs not only in the course of regular feeding, but during their spawn as well. They are a common sight in ditches, slow rivers, and lakes here in the Great Lakes Region. mr.trooper —Preceding undated comment added 03:31, 23 February 2011 (UTC).

Splitting Ammiiformes

Granted, there is only one living member today, but, shouldn't we split Ammiiformes off, especially since we want to eventually get around to discussing the other, albeit extinct, species?--Mr Fink 16:28, 23 April 2007 (UTC)

Support. These combi pages with both species and family (or order, etc) are fine when the latter is monotypic, but problematic otherwise (as is the case here). Any split, of course, would probably best be accompanied with a listing of the families the order contains (otherwise, per present article only: Amiiformes are a primitive order of ray-finned fish. It contains 7 families, 6 of which only are known from Jurassic, Cretaceous, and Eocene fossils, while the last, Amiidae, contains a single extant species, the Bowfin (Amia calva))... but I'll leave that to someone who actually has a decent level of knowledge about extinct fishes (i.e. not me). • Rabo³ • 01:14, 31 July 2008 (UTC)

Support indeed. As a rule, as soon as prehistoric taxa of nowadays-monotypic lineages have own articles - split! Dysmorodrepanis (talk) 11:48, 12 August 2009 (UTC)

I just created an article for the Family Amiidae showing the four recognized subfamilies, and known genera as of 1998.--Kevmin § 23:51, 24 August 2010 (UTC)

Size

"They can grow up to 10 meters in length, and weigh 7 kg" Hmm... that's one lightweight bowfin. Also considerably a lot longer that what fishbase reports. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 129.81.142.154 (talk) 19:52, 28 April 2008 (UTC)

contradiction with Leedsichthys

The intro specifically says the Bowfins are an order (Amiiformes), with one extant species (the species treated in this article), but also six additional extinct families, where one of them includes Leedsichthys. Assuming this is correct, Leedsichthys should also be ín the order Amiiformes, but according to its article, it is in the order Pachycormiformes. • Rabo³ • 11:16, 30 July 2008 (UTC)

Last I checked, Pachycormiformes is the sister group of Amiiformes. We need to doublecheck and amend the articles.--Mr Fink (talk) 19:57, 30 July 2008 (UTC)

Csmith1's additions

I am moving Csmith1's edited version here for now until citations and formatting can be figured out.

Csmith1 is trying to assert his ownership of Bowfin with his edits. On my talkpage, he's demanded that I stop "deleting (his) changes to amia calva." He then justifies by saying "i work for the university of tennessee and am making updates to all of our ocal fish for our ichlyology class. your unknowledgalbe deleting of my changes is only hurting others who want correct information on these fish." Thus directly implying that other editors are unfit to make contributions to Bowfin. If you'll examine the history of Bowfin, all of Csmith1's edits have been rewriting and undoing all other editors' contributions so that the page is like this, complete with misspellings, typo's and kludgy wordiness. In fact, I tried to work with Csmith1's edits, and he undid all of them, even reinserting his silly typo of "my most" --Mr Fink (talk) 18:13, 24 November 2011 (UTC)

Bowfin
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Actinopterygii
Order:	Amiiformes O. P. Hay, 1929
Family:	Amiidae Bonaparte, 1838
Subfamily:	Amiinae
Genus:	Amia Linnaeus, 1766
Species:	A. calva
Binomial name
Amia calva Linnaeus, 1766

‘’’Bowfins’’’(‘’Amia Calva’’) are in the order Amiformes, which is a primitive ray-finned species. The bowfin is the only species in the family Amiidae that still survives(Etnier 1993). The list of local and alternate names the bowfin is known by is lengthy, but common ones include "dogfish", "mudfish", "grindle" (or "grinnel"),"swamp muskie", "black fish", "cottonfish" "swamp bass", "poisson-castor", "Speckled Cat" "beaverfish", "Cypress trout" and "lawyer". In parts of Louisiana they are called "tchoupique" or "choupique. Bowfins are found throughout Eastern North America. The Bow fin is a top-level predator that preys on fish and larger aquatic invertibrates by ambush or stalking their prey. They prefer shallow, weedy waters of lakes or protected back waters of rivers. Bowfin are able to breath air, using their swim bladder and can be seen coming to the surface and gulping air even in well oxygenated water. This air-breathing ability allows them to utilize habitats along shorelines that are not accessible to other predator fish. Bowfin are generally regarded as trash fish by sportsmen, because they eat more desirable species including crayfish. The bow fin is not considered a good eating fish compared to more popular game fish. The bowfin will however strike a lure just as good as a bass or pike and grows as large as a bass and will fight just as well when hooked. The Bowfin as a species is in the least concern category. Future management for the bowfin looks as though it has not been considered by many. The bowfin is a thriving species where it is found and considered a pest my most.

Geographic distribution

The distribution of the Bowfin in the united states encompasses the St. Lawrence River, Lake Champlain drainage of Quebec and Vermont west across southern Ontario to the Mississippi drainage in Minnesota.

Ecology

The bowfin preys on fish and larger aquatic invertebrates. In their weedy habitat bowfin hunt from ambush or can stalk prey. The bowfins diet includes crayfish, insects, frogs and bony fish. They are extremely maneuverable in heavy cover, swimming both forward and backward with no disturbance in the water by passing undulations along the dorsal fin. The bowfin prefers shallow, clear, weedy water of lakes or protected marginal waters in rivers. It is tolerable of turbid water and does well in backwaters of large rivers like the Mississippi. The bowfins ability to breath air with their swim bladder enables them to survive in habitats that are cut off by falling water levels and become hypoxic. It also allows them to forage for extended periods in densely vegetated habitats that are subject to oxygen depletion due to restricted water circulation and decomposition of organic debris.

Life History

The bowfin spawns in April, May, June and July. The bowfins eggs are adhesive, attached to decaying vegetation and upright weeds by thread like extensions of surface. The eggs are color variable, with white to yellowish brown animal pole and charcoal gray to dark, grayish brown yolk; egg possibly becoming darker with age or varying in color with locality. The eggs hatch 6 days after being laid, with water temperature of 16.5 degrease Celsius. The bow fin will live from 3 to 5 years reaching their maximum size at 3 years of age. The male bowfin is smaller than the female only reaching an average length of 45 cm, while the female can reach up to 61 cm.

Current Management

The bowfin is not considered in any managemet currently. In all of the areas the bow fin inhabits it is the dominant predator that can control niches that most species can. the bowfin is still a thriving species and is not listed as endangered anywhere in its distribution. the bowfin is not a poplular sport fish or commercial fish so overfishing or harvesting is not hurting its populations. The wide variety of habitats that the bow fin can thrive in assures thats its numbers will not decline due to habitat destruction.

Management Recomendations

Recomendations for management of this pecies would be hard to apply. Since there is lttle t no interst in the species for sport or commercial use it would be hard to find funds to manage this species. Te best way to estimate the number of bowfin would be to tfnd away to intice anglers to catch the bowfin. T is technique would also be usefull for gnetic tesing if the anglers bring specimens back for analysis. There are other species in states that are considered a neisenc species that anglers are reworded to ctch them and turn them in to the local wildlife and fisheries biologits. The bowfin does not need to worry about invasive species taking over its habitat since it can breat air i can inhabit water that most fish cannot.

References

1. Sepkoski, Jack.2002.A compendium of fossil marine animal genera.Bulletins of American Paleontology 364:560
2. Catherine A. McCormick.1981.Central Projects of the lateral line and eight nerves in the bowfin,Amia Calva. The journal of comparative neurology 197:1-15.
3. JM Conlon, JH Youson, J Whittaker.1991.structure and receptor-binding activity of insulin from a holostean fish, the bowfin:Amia Calva.Biochem j. 276:261-264
4. T M Nguyen, T P Mommsen, S M Mims, J M Conlon.1994.Characterization of insulins and proglucagon-derived peptides from a phylogenetically ancient fish, the paddlefish:Polyodon spathula.Biochem J.300(Pt 2): 339–345
5. J M Conlon, J H Youson, T P Mommsen.1993.Structure and biological activity of glucagon and glucagon-like peptide from a primitive bony fish, the bowfin: Amia calva.J.295(Pt 3): 857–861.

6.^ Nelson, Joseph S. (2006). Fishes of the World. John Wiley & Sons, Inc. ISBN 0471250317

7.^ Froese, Rainer, and Daniel Pauly, eds. (2009). "Amiidae" in FishBase. January 2009 version.

8.^ Berra, Tim M. (2001). Freshwater Fish Distribution. San Diego: Academic Press. ISBN 0-12-093156-7

9.^ Meyer, C.P. "Home." Bowfin Anglers Group. Bowfin Anglers Group. 21 Mar 2010.

Alternative Names

The article should have the other names of this fish; choupic/choupique is a relatively common one. I've heard 'grindle' as well. — Preceding unsigned comment added by204.38.54.56 (talk) 16:36, 18 January 2014 (UTC)

Sure, so long as you provide sources and references to verify these other names.--Mr Fink (talk) 17:14, 18 January 2014 (UTC)

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