The American conger (''Conger oceanicus'') is a species of
eel
Eels are ray-finned fish belonging to the order Anguilliformes (), which consists of eight suborders, 19 families, 111 genera, and about 800 species. Eels undergo considerable development from the early larval stage to the eventual adult stage ...
in the family
Congridae
The Congridae are the family of conger and garden eels. Congers are valuable and often large food fishes, while garden eels live in colonies, all protruding from the sea floor after the manner of plants in a garden (thus the name). The family i ...
. Other common names for this fish include conger, dog eel,
poison eel
and sea eel.
It is a marine fish with a widespread distribution in the Western
Atlantic
The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about . It covers approximately 20% of Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surface area. It is known to separate the " Old World" of Africa, Europe an ...
from
Cape Cod
Cape Cod is a peninsula extending into the Atlantic Ocean from the southeastern corner of mainland Massachusetts, in the northeastern United States. Its historic, maritime character and ample beaches attract heavy tourism during the summer mont ...
in
Massachusetts
Massachusetts (Massachusett: ''Muhsachuweesut Massachusett_writing_systems.html" ;"title="nowiki/> məhswatʃəwiːsət.html" ;"title="Massachusett writing systems">məhswatʃəwiːsət">Massachusett writing systems">məhswatʃəwiːsət'' En ...
to northeastern
Florida
Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...
in United States and the northern
Gulf of Mexico
The Gulf of Mexico ( es, Golfo de México) is an ocean basin and a marginal sea of the Atlantic Ocean, largely surrounded by the North American continent. It is bounded on the northeast, north and northwest by the Gulf Coast of the United ...
, and is also reported from near the mid-Atlantic island of
St. Helena
Saint Helena () is a British overseas territory located in the South Atlantic Ocean. It is a remote volcanic tropical island west of the coast of south-western Africa, and east of Rio de Janeiro in South America. It is one of three constit ...
and off the coast of
Nova Scotia
Nova Scotia ( ; ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is one of the three Maritime provinces and one of the four Atlantic provinces. Nova Scotia is Latin for "New Scotland".
Most of the population are native Eng ...
in Canada. Dark grayish color, it can grow to about long and weigh more than .
Description
The American conger is a large, elongated, cylindrical fish growing to a maximum length of over and a maximum weight of over , though a more typical length is about a meter. The upper jaw projects further forward than the lower jaw. The dorsal fin starts just behind the pectoral fins and runs in a continuous even ribbon to the tip of the tail, where it fuses with the similarly long and uniform anal fin. The dorsal surface is some shade of dark gray while the ventral surface is whitish. The dorsal and anal fins have a dark margin.
Ecology
This eel lives on the seabed and is a nocturnal predator. Its diet consists mainly of fish, but it also feeds on
molluscs
Mollusca is the second-largest phylum of invertebrate animals after the Arthropoda, the members of which are known as molluscs or mollusks (). Around 85,000 extant species of molluscs are recognized. The number of fossil species is estim ...
and
crustacean
Crustaceans (Crustacea, ) form a large, diverse arthropod taxon which includes such animals as decapods, seed shrimp, branchiopods, fish lice, krill, remipedes, isopods, barnacles, copepods, amphipods and mantis shrimp. The crustacean group can ...
s. It is migratory, but although the juveniles make use of estuaries, American congers do not have a freshwater phase as do some other species of eel. Mature individuals leave the continental shelf during the summer, cross the
Gulf Stream, and make their way to the
Sargasso Sea north of
the Bahamas
The Bahamas (), officially the Commonwealth of The Bahamas, is an island country within the Lucayan Archipelago of the West Indies in the North Atlantic. It takes up 97% of the Lucayan Archipelago's land area and is home to 88% of the ar ...
; here they spawn in floating masses of ''
sargassum
''Sargassum'' is a genus of brown (class Phaeophyceae) macroalgae ( seaweed) in the order Fucales. Numerous species are distributed throughout the temperate and tropical oceans of the world, where they generally inhabit shallow water and coral ...
'' in the autumn and winter, after which they are believed to die. The larvae are called
leptocephali
Leptocephalus (meaning "slim head") is the flat and transparent larva of the eel, marine eels, and other members of the superorder Elopomorpha. This is one of the most diverse groups of teleosts, containing 801 species in 4 orders, 24 famili ...
, and after hatching, leave the mass of algae and soon get carried along by the Gulf Stream. Here they develop through four larval stages until undergoing
metamorphosis into elvers when about long. Leaving the Gulf Stream they swim towards the coast where they become
benthic and may enter the mouths of rivers, but as they are
cryptic at this stage, they are difficult to study.
[
]
Status
''C. oceanicus'' has a wide range and occurs in both shallow water and in deeper water over the continental shelf. It is a common fish, no particular threats have been recognised, and the International Union for Conservation of Nature
The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN; officially International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources) is an international organization working in the field of nature conservation and sustainable use of nat ...
has assessed its conservation status as being of "least concern
A least-concern species is a species that has been categorized by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) as evaluated as not being a focus of species conservation because the specific species is still plentiful in the wild. T ...
". The American conger is the subject of some fishing activities, being caught recreationally or as bycatch, by hook and line, in fish traps or by trawling across the seabed. Catch by net or trap in the elver stage is closely regulated by the State of Maine, with licensing granted via a lottery system administered by the State and a neutral third party.State of Maine Department of Marine Resources: Elver License & Fyke Net Lottery Eligibility Rules
/ref> The conger was historically fished commercially; its flesh is edible, often being smoked before consumption.[
]
References
{{Taxonbar, from=Q2783142
American conger
Fish of the Eastern United States
Fish of the Western Atlantic
American conger
Taxa named by Samuel L. Mitchill