Channa argus (Cantor) (Fig. 22A) Distribution. Ng Tung River (GBIF.org, 2021); Kowloon Reservoir; Tai Lam Chung Reservoir (current survey). Native range. Amur River Basin to South China (East Asia). Remarks. This species is occasionally sold together with Channa maculata and Channa argus × Channa maculata hybrids in local wet markets. Channa argus is bigger than C. maculata, with larger lateral blotches and a well-separated dorsal head pattern (Fig. 22A, B 1) between the eyes (Ou et al., 2018). Morphometrics cannot adequately differentiate between juveniles of C. argus, C. maculata, and C. argus × C. maculata hybrids in Hong Kong. A region-wide integrative taxonomic assessment is necessary to adequately understand the scale of introductions, breeding, and hybridisation of native and non-native channids. This species is sometimes released during Buddhist rituals.

Published as part of Chan, Jeffery C. F., Tsang, Alphonse H. F., Yau, Sze-man, Hui, Tommy C. H., Lau, Anthony, Tan, Heok Hui, Low, Bi Wei, Dudgeon, David & Liew, Jia Huan, 2023, The non-native freshwater fishes of Hong Kong: diversity, distributions, and origins, pp. 128-168 in Raffles Bulletin of Zoology 71 on page 141, DOI: 10.26107/RBZ-2023-0012, http://zenodo.org/record/7815765