bowfin

American  

[boh-fin] / ˈboʊˌfɪn /

noun

1. a carnivorous ganoid fish, Amia calva, found in sluggish fresh waters of eastern North America.

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bowfin British  

/ ˈbəʊˌfɪn /

noun

1. a primitive North American freshwater bony fish, Amia calva , with an elongated body and a very long dorsal fin: family Amiidae

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Etymology

Origin of bowfin

An Americanism dating back to 1835–45; bow ² + fin ¹

Example Sentences

The researchers also sequenced the bichir, an elongated, air-breathing, ray-finned fish that lives in the shallows of tropical African rivers, as well as the American paddlefish, the bowfin, and the alligator gar.

From Science Magazine • Feb. 10, 2021

Mr. Burke managed to secure only 2,000 pounds of bowfin caviar.

From New York Times • Jun. 9, 2012

And its lowly native bowfin, often derided as a throwaway fish, is no prized sturgeon.

From New York Times • Jun. 9, 2012

Mr. Taksir, the exporter, made his first trip to the bayou at harvest time last year and watched the founder of the Louisiana Caviar Company, John Burke, fish for bowfin in a two-man skiff.

From New York Times • Jun. 9, 2012

To him is welcome everything that comes from the waters, be it trout, bass, perch, bullhead, or sunfish, and he hath pride even in the abominable but toothsome eel and the uneatable bowfin.

From In New England Fields and Woods by Robinson, Rowland E. (Evans)