''Conger'' ( ) is a
genus
Genus (; : genera ) is a taxonomic rank above species and below family (taxonomy), family as used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In bino ...
of marine
congrid eels. It includes some of the largest types of eels, ranging up to or more in length, in the case of the European conger. Large congers have often been observed by divers during the day in parts of the
Mediterranean Sea
The Mediterranean Sea ( ) is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the east by the Levant in West Asia, on the north by Anatolia in West Asia and Southern Eur ...
, and both European and American congers are sometimes caught by fishermen along the European and North American Atlantic coasts.
The life histories of most conger eels are poorly known. Based on collections of their small
leptocephalus larvae, the American conger eel has been found to spawn in the southwestern
Sargasso Sea, close to the spawning areas of the
Atlantic
The Atlantic Ocean is the second largest of the world's five oceanic divisions, with an area of about . It covers approximately 17% of Earth's surface and about 24% of its water surface area. During the Age of Discovery, it was known for se ...
freshwater
Fresh water or freshwater is any naturally occurring liquid or frozen water containing low concentrations of dissolved salts and other total dissolved solids. The term excludes seawater and brackish water, but it does include non-salty mi ...
eels.
"Conger" or "conger eel" is sometimes included in the common names of species of the family
Congridae, including members of this genus.
Description
Congers have wide mouths with sturdy teeth, usually a variant of gray or black in coloration. They have no scales. Their body weight can reach over .
Species
* †''
Conger brevisulcus''
( Schwarzhans, 1980)
* ''
Conger cinereus''
Rüppell, 1830 (longfin African conger)
* ''
Conger conger''
(Linnaeus
Carl Linnaeus (23 May 1707 – 10 January 1778), also known after ennoblement in 1761 as Carl von Linné,#Blunt, Blunt (2004), p. 171. was a Swedish biologist and physician who formalised binomial nomenclature, the modern system of naming o ...
, 1758) (European conger)
* †''
Conger davidsmithi''
(Schwarzhans, 2019)
* ''
Conger erebennus''
( D. S. Jordan & Snyder, 1901) (Anaconger)
* ''
Conger esculentus''
Poey, 1861 (grey conger)
* ''
Conger japonicus''
Bleeker, 1879
* ''
Conger jordani'' Kanazawa, 1958
* ''
Conger macrocephalus''
Kanazawa
is the capital of Ishikawa Prefecture in central Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 466,029 in 203,271 households, and a population density of 990 persons per km2. The total area of the city was .
Etymology
The name "Kanazaw ...
, 1958
* ''
Conger marginatus''
Valenciennes
Valenciennes (, also , , ; ; or ; ) is a communes of France, commune in the Nord (French department), Nord Departments of France, department, Hauts-de-France, France.
It lies on the Scheldt () river. Although the city and region experienced ...
, 1850 (Hawaiian Mustache Conger)
* ''
Conger melanopterus''
Kideeswaran, D. G. Smith, Deepa Dhas, Ajith Kumar
Ajith Kumar Subramaniam (born 1 May 1971) is an Indian actor who works predominantly in Tamil cinema. To date, he has starred in over 63 films, and won four Vijay Awards, three Cinema Express Awards, three Filmfare Awards South and three Ta ...
, 2023
* ''
Conger monganius''
Phillipps, 1932
* ''
Conger myriaster''
( Brevoort, 1856) (whitespotted conger)
* ''
Conger oceanicus''
( Mitchill, 1818) (American conger)
* ''
Conger oligoporus''
Kanazawa, 1958
* ''
Conger orbignianus''
Valenciennes, 1842 (Argentine conger)
* ''
Conger philippinus''
Kanazawa, 1958
* †''
Conger tokoroa''
Schwarzhans, 2019
* ''
Conger triporiceps''
Kanazawa, 1958 (manytooth conger)
* ''
Conger verreauxi''
Kaup, 1856 (southern conger)
* ''
Conger wilsoni''
( Bloch & J. G. Schneider, 1801) (Cape conger)
Formerly Included Species
* ''Conger anagoides''
Bleeker, 1853 (sea conger) - now ''
Ariosoma anagoides''
* ''Conger auratus''
Costa, 1844 (bandtooth conger) - now ''
Ariosoma balearicum''
Fishing
Fishing for congers was first recorded in the 12th century. The
Norman taxation Pipe Roll recorded two ''éperquerie'' on
Guernsey
Guernsey ( ; Guernésiais: ''Guernési''; ) is the second-largest island in the Channel Islands, located west of the Cotentin Peninsula, Normandy. It is the largest island in the Bailiwick of Guernsey, which includes five other inhabited isl ...
and one on
Sark
Sark (Sercquiais: or , ) is an island in the southwestern English Channel, off the coast of Normandy, and part of the archipelago of the Channel Islands. It is a self-governing British Crown Dependencies, Crown Dependency, with its own set o ...
. These were designated places where congers were dried.
One species of the conger eel, ''
Conger myriaster'', is an important food fish in East Asia. It is often served as
sushi
is a traditional Japanese dish made with , typically seasoned with sugar and salt, and combined with a variety of , such as seafood, vegetables, or meat: raw seafood is the most common, although some may be cooked. While sushi comes in n ...
.
Behaviour
Congers are
predator
Predation is a biological interaction in which one organism, the predator, kills and eats another organism, its prey. It is one of a family of common List of feeding behaviours, feeding behaviours that includes parasitism and micropredation ...
s and can attack humans. In July 2013, a diver was attacked by a
European conger eel in
Killary Harbour,
Ireland
Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...
, at a depth of . The eel bit a large chunk from his face. The diver reported the creature was more than in length and "about the width of a human thigh".
References
External links
BOLDSystems: Genus Conger
Congrinae
Extant Eocene first appearances
Taxa named by Lorenz Oken
{{congridae-stub