Channa maculata

Basic information
Scientific name	Channa maculata	(No picture)
Common names	Blotched snakehead
Higher taxon	Channidae, Perciformes, Actinopterygii
Natural range	Fujian and southern part of continental China, Taiwan, Hainan Island, Vietnam, and Philippine.
Habitat	Cloudy muddy bottom of ponds with aquatic grass. Slow stream.

Invasion information
Range in Japan	Wakayama and Hyogo Prefs., and Ishigakijima Is., Sakishima Islands, Okinawa Pref.
Origin	Taiwan
Date	Imported to Osaka in 1906 and 1916 (origin of Kinki District population). Imported to Ishigakijima in 1960.
Route	Deliberate: Escape from exhibition.
Impact	Unknown impact.
Regulation in Japan	Introduction of this species is prohibited in Shiga, Nagano and Yamaguchi Prefs. For fishes of genus Channa, keeping and release are prohibited in UK, and import and transport are prohibited in USA.
Introduced range in other countries	Madagascar and Hawaii (from continental China)

Reference	Notes
FishBase, accessed on 2010-06-15, http://www.fishbase.org/search.cfm Kawanabe et al. (eds) (2002) Freshwater Fishes of Japan, 3rd ed.. Yama-kei Publishers, Tokyo (in Jpn) Matsuzawa & Senou (2008) Alien fishes of Japan. Bun-ichi Sogo Shuppan, Tokyo (in Jpn) etc.