Bowfin: Where It Lives, Map & Facts

Where the bowfin lives – recorded in 2 countries, with quick facts from Wikidata and an introduction from Wikipedia.

Scientific name	Amia calva
Group	Bony fish
Status	Least concern (Wikidata, IUCN category label)
Found in	2 countries
Continents	North America
Class	Ray-finned fish
Order	Amiiformes
Family	Amiidae

Where does the bowfin live?

Open-licence (CC0 / CC BY) wild records published on GBIF place the bowfin in 2 countries and territories across North America.

Countries with at least a handful of records (a minimum share of the species’ records, to leave out vagrants and escapes). Records with coordinates only; captive and fossil records excluded.

Is the bowfin endangered?

The bowfin’s conservation status recorded in Wikidata is “Least concern” (an IUCN Red List category label). Source: Wikidata.

What kind of animal is the bowfin?

The bowfin (Amia calva) is a ray-finned fish in the order Amiiformes and the family Amiidae, genus Amia. (Taxonomy from Wikidata.)

About the bowfin

The ruddy bowfin (Amia calva) is a ray-finned fish native to North America. Common names include mudfish, mud pike, dogfish, grindle, grinnel, swamp trout, and choupique. It is regarded as a relict, being one of only two surviving species of the Halecomorphi, a group of fish that first appeared during the Early Triassic, around 250 million years ago. The bowfin is often considered a "living fossil" because it has retained some morphological characteristics of its early ancestors. It is one of two species in the genus Amia, along with Amia ocellicauda, the eyespot bowfin. The closest living relatives of bowfins are gars, with the two groups being united in the clade Holostei.

Text in “About” is quoted from the Wikipedia article Bowfin (revision 1377214845), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Changes: lead section excerpted verbatim, formatting removed. Quick facts, taxonomy and status: Wikidata Q491934 (CC0). Countries and pin: GBIF.org occurrence records (CC0 / CC BY 4.0).