A medium-sized, greenish fish, the bowfin can be found in clear lakes and slow streams through much of Minnesota.Bowfin survive in murky, oxygen-depleted water by rising to the surface and gulping air into their air bladders.his primitive fish was around when dinosaurs roamed the earth. It is also known as a dogfish. The bowfin is a tubular, olive-green fish with a scaleless head and two barbels on its face. Its dorsal fin stretches most of the length of its back.