Bowfin (
Amia calva) are
basal bony fishes related to
gars in the infraclass
Holostei. Common names include mudfish, mud pike, dogfish, griddle, grinnel, cypress trout and choupique. They are regarded as
taxonomic relicts, being the sole surviving species of the
order Amiiformes which dates from the
Jurassic to the
Eocene, persisting to the present. Although bowfin are highly evolved, they are often referred to as "
primitive fishes" because they have retained some morphological characteristics of their early ancestors.
