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Bowfin

The bowfin (Amia calva Linnaeus) was not reported by early investigators in the Red River basin. Evermann and Latimer (1910) mistakenly listed it from the Lake of the Woods, where locals had reported "dogfish" were common; however, the species was Lota lota, the burbot, a fish often used as food for dogs (J.C. Underhill, Bell Museum of Natural History, pers. comm. 1994). The bowfin was first reported in the Red River drainage from Little Pine Lake (Otter Tail River drainage) in 1955, and from the outlet of Many Point Lake (Otter Tail River) in 1967 (Eddy et al. 1972) (Fig. A3). Although it is abundant in the lakes of the Otter Tail River (1,6,9) drainage, it has not been reported from any other tributaries in the Red River basin.

As bowfin are usually found in clear water and abundant vegetation (Becker 1983), the high turbidity of the Red River may be important in preventing its dispersal.

The bowfin's range extends east through the Great Lakes basin and south through the Mississippi River drainage to Louisiana and lower Texas (Lee et al. 1980). In Minnesota, the bowfin is present in the Minnesota and upper Mississippi rivers, and it is likely that the Minnesota River drainage provided a dispersal route to the Red River basin following Pleistocene glaciation (Underhill 1989). The bowfin has not been reported from Hudson Bay drainage subsystems in Canada (Crossman and McAllister 1986), the Rainy River/Lake of the Woods (Underhill 1989), or in the Missouri River drainage in North Dakota (Ryckman 1981) or South Dakota (Bailey and Allum 1962).

Maps by Period

• 1978-1994
  
• 1962-1977
  
• 1892-1961