are bowfin the same as snakeheads?

[snagged]

first of, are bowfin the same as snakehead?

 

I caught one today on the lakeshore and didn't know weather to kill it or put it back. I wasn't sure so I put it back. I remember hearing that they are invasive and the MNR wanted us to discard them if caught. Can anyone shed some light?

 

TIA

[mike rousseau]

Not the same

[kickingfrog]

Lots of images on the net. Similar personalities but fairly easy to distinguish between them.

 

[snagged]

Thanks for the pictures. I definately caught a bowfin today.

[jedimaster]

Stick your hand in its mouth. You get back more than a wrist its a bowfin.

[Garfisher]

Bowfin's have a gular plate (which is handy for holding on to them), snakeheads don't.

[Millhouse2020]

I did not know they were harvested for their caviar. They are definately a primitive fish that has survived with little change for a very long time. They can breath air, like the snakehead. To me they closely resemble a coelacanth which a 400 million year old fish thought to be long extinct until a specimen was discovered in 1938 off the coast of south africa. Aparantly the locals had caught them periodically for some time and thought nothing of it.

 

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bowfin

 

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coelacanth

[aplumma]

If you can get your lure out of there mouths and still have 5 fingers it is a bowfin.

 

 

Art

[RsX]

i caught a snakehead at the islands and damn the teeth on those things crazy

[kickingfrog]

i caught a snakehead at the islands and damn the teeth on those things crazy

 

The Toronto Islands?

[John Bacon]

The Toronto Islands?

 

Is, so, it was probably a bowfin.

[GYPSY400]

To my knowledge, there is no snakeheads in Ontario.. Once they arrive, we are all screwed.. Those things eat everything!!

[Garfisher]

Kinda like how the Potomac has really taken a beating from them

[GYPSY400]

Kinda like how the Potomac has really taken a beating from them

 

 

I googled Potomac since I didn't know what your referring too.. It seems as though they have a snakehead tournament and all caught fish must be killed immediately .. Well that's one way to deal with the problem!!

[ehg]

i caught a snakehead at the islands and damn the teeth on those things crazy

Ya, apparently there are no snakeheads found in Ontario. It is too cold.

Lots in the Potomac around Washington, D.C. however.

 

Apparently they eat them where they originally exist.

[Snidley]

They are very tasty apparently. The Potomac is not loaded with them but they are there to be caught. They actually have a decent fight to them and many anglers like catching them, except for the teeth. A nuisance for Bass anglers similar to hammer handles here.