Amia calva; Print; Bowfin (Amia calva) are bony fishes related to gars in the infraclass Holostei. Common names include mudfish; mud pike; dogfish; griddle; grinnel; swamp 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.; 1700-1880