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Female Bowfin Fins Green?


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#1 Guest_NateTessler13_*

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Posted 01 June 2009 - 06:51 PM

Hello,
Anyone ever heard of a female Bowfin's pectoral and pelvic fins turning green? I thought this was a characteristic attributed to males.

#2 Guest_panfisherteen_*

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Posted 01 June 2009 - 08:43 PM

thats from spawning colors (males), very common around here... so im thinking you have a male instead of what you think is a female

Edited by panfisherteen, 01 June 2009 - 08:45 PM.


#3 Guest_NateTessler13_*

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Posted 02 June 2009 - 09:55 AM

thats from spawning colors (males), very common around here... so im thinking you have a male instead of what you think is a female



Nope. It was loaded with eggs and has green fins.

#4 Guest_panfisherteen_*

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Posted 02 June 2009 - 03:56 PM

hmm, maybe it has the green fins by genetics and it simply has green fins all year, thats all i can think of

#5 Guest_NateTessler13_*

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Posted 02 June 2009 - 04:13 PM

hmm, maybe it has the green fins by genetics and it simply has green fins all year, thats all i can think of



Thanks, but the fins just "greened up" in the last few weeks. I was really sure it was a female when we collected it. Then, it got the green fins. To me, that means a male Bowfin. But, when I opened it up it was loaded with eggs so...just wondering if anyone else have ever seen green fins on a female Bowfin.

#6 Guest_fishlvr_*

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Posted 02 June 2009 - 09:00 PM

If they're anything like sunfish when it comes to pigment, then the color in the males is caused by hormones, and your female could have an abnormally high amount of testosterone or whatever the male hormone is in fish (if it's different). I had that happen to some longears one time. I had two very fat "males" and one day I was extracting sperm for a minnow spawning experiment and eggs came out! Their colors weren't as intense as my real male but I figured that was because they were "inferior" to the larger male.

#7 Guest_Brooklamprey_*

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Posted 03 June 2009 - 08:24 AM

Nate,
IMO this is not all that terribly uncommon. I have seen quite a few females with greenish Pectoral pelvic and anal fins. They are not usually as brilliant as the males but they are not far off.

#8 Guest_NateTessler13_*

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Posted 04 June 2009 - 09:38 PM

Nate,
IMO this is not all that terribly uncommon. I have seen quite a few females with greenish Pectoral pelvic and anal fins. They are not usually as brilliant as the males but they are not far off.


They definitely weren't as brilliant as the males fins. But green nonetheless. Thanks for shining some light on this one. I had just never seen it before.

#9 Guest_rjmtx_*

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Posted 04 June 2009 - 10:19 PM

You didn't get this bowfin from the East German swim team, did you?

#10 Guest_NateTessler13_*

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Posted 10 June 2009 - 06:14 AM

You didn't get this bowfin from the East German swim team, did you?


:-#



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