Bowfin

Last year a paper came out suggesting that bowfin be split into 2 different species. Roughfish.com has accepted these findings and from here on out bowfin are now divided into Eyetail Bowfin and Ruddy Bowfin. Eyetail Bowfin are found in the Mississippi and Great Lakes drainage basins, as well as the east coast north of Chesapeake Bay and can be differentiated by the spot on the tail and that the males change color during the spawning season. Ruddy Bowfin are found in coastal drainages east of the Mississippi River and south of Chesapeake Bay and do not have an eye-like spot on the tail nor do they change color during the spawn. In order to submit both species for a contest the Eyetail Bowfin must have the eye-like spot which is lost on older females. Because the user base of this website is mostly within the range of the Eyetail Bowfin, that is being treated as the default bowfin that previous entries are treated as. This does go against what would be expected given the scientific names of the 2 species, however this way the majority of lifelist entries will stay accurate without having to be changed. Though if a bowfin is from Mississippi, Alabama, Florida, Georgia, South Carolina or North Carolina it is most likely a Ruddy Bowfin, unless it is from the Mississippi River drainage. Enjoy your armchair lifer if you have caught both or target if you haven't!