gar inhabit a wide variety of aquatic habitats, but most are found in the Southern United States in reservoirs and lakes, in the backwaters of lowland rivers, and in the brackish waters of estuaries, bayous, and bays. It occurs southward along the Gulf Coast of Texas, into Tamaulipas and northern Veracruz, Mexico, however, records from Nicaragua and Costa Rica are considered "suspect and refuted". They have occasionally been seen in the Gulf of Mexico. In Texas and Louisiana, large gars are commonly seen breaking the surface in reservoirs, bayous, and brackish marshes. They are found throughout the lower Mississippi River Valley and Gulf Coast states of the Southern United States and Mexico as far south as Veracruz, and encompassing the following states in the US: Texas, Oklahoma, Louisiana, Kentucky, Mississippi, Alabama, Tennessee, Arkansas, Missouri, Illinois, Florida, and Georgia. Reports suggest alligator gar were once numerous throughout much of their northern range, but valid sightings today are rare, and may occur once every few years. Records of historical distribution indicate alligator gar once inhabited regions as far north as central Kansas, Nebraska, Ohio, Iowa, and west-central Illinois, where they are now listed as extirpated. The most northerly verified catch was in Meredosia, Illinois, in 1922. In 2016, there were efforts to reintroduce alligator gar between Tennessee and Illinois as part of an effort to control invasive Asian carp. Outside natural range Alligator gar is an invasive species in Mainland China, where it can be purchased as an exotic pet. It has few natural predators there, and its poisonous eggs may pose a passive threat. The fish has been sighted in eight provinces, and authorities have worked to remove it. In November 2008, a broadhead gar, genus Atractosteus, measuring was caught in the Caspian Sea north of Esenguly, Turkmenistan, by two officials of Turkmenistan Fishery Protection. On September 4, 2009, a alligator gar was found in Tak Wah Park in Tsuen Wan, Hong Kong. Over the next two days, at least 16 other alligator gar, the largest measuring , were found in ponds in public parks in Hong Kong. Nearby residents reported the alligator gar had been released into the ponds by aquarium hobbyists, and had lived there for several years. However, after a complaint made by a citizen who falsely identified alligator gar as crocodiles, the use of terms like "horrible man-eating fish" had begun appearing in the headlines of some