Conger

 ( Congrinae ) 

Conger ( ) is a genus of marine congrid . 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, 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 Ocean freshwater eels.

"Conger" or "conger eel" is sometimes included in the common names of species of the family Congridae, including members of this genus.

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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 .

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Species

• † Conger brevisulcus (Schwarzhans, 1980)
• Conger cinereus Rüppell, 1830 (longfin African conger)
• European conger (Carl Linnaeus, 1758) (European conger)
• † Conger davidsmithi (Schwarzhans, 2019)
• Conger erebennus (D. S. Jordan & Snyder, 1901) (Anaconger)
• grey conger Poey, 1861 (grey conger)
• Conger japonicus Pieter Bleeker, 1879
• Conger jordani Kanazawa, 1958
• Conger macrocephalus Kanazawa, 1958
• Conger marginatus Valenciennes, 1850 (Hawaiian Mustache Conger)
• Conger melanopterus Kideeswaran, D. G. Smith, Deepa Dhas, Ajith Kumar, 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
• manytooth conger Kanazawa, 1958 (manytooth conger)
• southern conger Kaup, 1856 (southern conger)
• Conger wilsoni (Bloch & J. G. Schneider, 1801) (Cape conger)

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Formerly Included Species

• Conger anagoides Bleeker, 1853 (sea conger) - now sea conger
• Conger auratus Costa, 1844 (bandtooth conger) - now bandtooth conger

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Fishing Fishing for congers was first recorded in the 12th century. The Pipe rolls recorded two éperquerie on Guernsey and one on Sark. These were designated places where congers were dried.

Raoul Lempriére (1974). 9780709142522, Robert Hale Ltd. ISBN 9780709142522

One species of the conger eel, Conger myriaster, is an important food fish in East Asia. It is often served as sushi.

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Behaviour Congers are and can attack humans. In July 2013, a diver was attacked by a European conger eel in Killary Harbour, Ireland, 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".

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External links

• BOLDSystems: Genus Conger

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