Bowfin!

We've been fishing on Lake Conway from our dock.  The catch this week has been various--one smaller freshwater drum, one red-ear (the largest sunfish found in these waters), three blue-gills, and a handful of other bream (smallish pan-fish which are fun to catch because they're so scrappy, and worth cleaning because they're so delicious.)  

 And my husband made one other catch:  

This, dear Reader, is a BOWFIN.
It is a large, heavy-bodied fish with a long dorsal fin and a huge, bony mouth.  It has a reptilian, prehistoric-looking head with black eyes resembling a shark's.  I had to run for the net to help the DHubby land this fish, as he was using very light tackle and a spinner-bait.  

The colors on this fish are not faked--it really is that poisonous turquoise you see here.  It's mating season, and male fish take on bright hues at this time of year.  

The tail-spot is found on the male.











And here is a closer look at the bowfin's head.  I would like to have taken more detailed shots, but we did not want to keep the fish out of water for very long.  I have no idea whether these are good eating, and we are not inclined to test that.  The other name for the bowfin is 'cypress trout'--which might suggest good eating or just relate to the general body shape of the species.  This was a heavy fish!