Quick guide to Hong Kong’s freshwater animals: an app comes to the rescue of threatened species

The Pocket Guide to Freshwater Species of Hong Kong, in English and Chinese, identifies up to 138 species of birds, fish, snakes, insects and spiders. It was developed by the Freshwater Collective, a non-profit project that encourages conservation, education and research into freshwater ecology.

“The idea for the app was hatched during a dinner conversation with my high-school friend, Matthew Ng, a veterinary surgeon who learned how to code the entire app from YouTube,” says Freshwater Collective founder Jeffery Chan.

“I liaised with researchers, universities and various organisations to form a coalition of local freshwater-animal experts so we had the most scientifically accurate layperson information […] There was no up-to-date resource for many freshwater animals in Hong Kong,” he says, adding that the most recent comprehensive guide on freshwater fish was produced by the Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department (AFCD) in 2004.

Chan says much of the damage to freshwater life in Hong Kong occurred in the late 1990s and early 2000s, with the large-scale construction of concrete channels and damming of streams and rivers.

“Channelisation turned natural watercourses into lifeless concrete slabs, with little to no water, making it difficult to sustain life,” he says, adding that many species, such as the common water monitor (Varanus salvator), rough-skinned floating frog (Occidozyga lima) and white cloud mountain minnow (Tanichthys albonubes) have become extinct in Hong Kong owing to habitat loss.