This species was first described by British zoologist Richard Bowdler Sharpe in 1875 and named in honour of French naturalist Eugène Louis Bouvier.

The upper parts are cinnamon-brown finely marked with dark brown vermiculations.

Across the shoulders, the outer webs of the feathers are whitish making a pale horizontal streak.

[3][5] In southern Nigeria its favourite food appears to be Clarias catfish which have primitive lungs and rise to the surface periodically to breathe.

Little is known of the bird's breeding biology, but is probably similar to that of Pel's fishing owl (Scotopelia peli).

[3] The vermiculated fishing owl has a very wide range in tropical west-central Africa amounting to a total area of about 3,333,000 km2 (1,287,000 sq mi).