Thai National Parks

The Chinese edible frog, East Asian bullfrog, or Taiwanese frog (Hoplobatrachus rugulosus) is a species of frog in the Dicroglossidae family. It is found in Cambodia, China, Hong Kong, Laos, Macau, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Taiwan, Thailand, and Vietnam. Its natural habitats are freshwater marshes, intermittent freshwater marshes, arable land, pasture land, rural gardens, urban areas, ponds, aquaculture ponds, open excavations, irrigated land, seasonally flooded agricultural land, and canals and ditches. They breed in spring–early summer.

H. rugulosus is a large, robust frog, up to 12 cm or more in snout-vent length. Females are larger than males. They are primarily insectivores.

Regional Names

The Chinese edible frog is commonly referred to as 田雞 ("field chicken") or 虎皮蛙 ("tiger-skinned frog") in Mainland China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Macau, and Chinese communities worldwide. In Filipino, they are called "palakang bukid, " which means "frog of the field."

Usage

The frogs are commonly found in wet markets, seafood markets, and pet stores. In wet markets, they are usually sold per piece or per kilogram. The medium-sized frogs are sold as pets in pet stores, and the smaller variant is sold as live food for arowanas. They are widely farmed in Sichuan, China, Malaysia, and Thailand.

These frogs, though much smaller than their Western counterparts, are used by the Chinese to cook frog legs and the Filipinos who cook them using the adobo method. The frog's forelimbs and hind legs are fried in oil, while in the adobo method (in which the entire frog is utilized), they are cooked in soy sauce and vinegar.

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