''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 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 in ...

eel Eels are ray-finned fish belonging to the order Anguilliformes (), which consists of eight suborders, 20 families, 164 genera, and about 1000 species. Eels undergo considerable development from the early larval stage to the eventual adult stage ...

s. 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 A leptocephalus (meaning "slim head") is the flat and Transparency (optics), transparent larva of 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 f ...

larvae, the American conger eel has been found to spawn in the southwestern

Sargasso Sea The Sargasso Sea () is a region of the Atlantic Ocean bounded by four currents forming an ocean gyre. Unlike all other regions called seas, it is the only one without land boundaries. It is distinguished from other parts of the Atlantic Oc ...

, 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 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 in ...

, 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 ''Conger'' ( ) is a genus 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 ...

'' ( Schwarzhans, 1980) * ''

Conger cinereus The longfin African conger (''Conger cinereus'') or blacklip conger is an eel of the family Congridae, found in the Indo-Pacific oceans from the Red Sea and East Africa to the Marquesas and Easter islands, north to southern Japan and the Ogasawara ...

'' Rüppell, 1830 (longfin African conger) * ''

Conger conger The European conger (''Conger conger'') is a species of conger of the family Congridae. It is the heaviest eel in the world and native to the northeast Atlantic, including the Mediterranean Sea. Description and behaviour European congers have ...

'' (

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 Events January–March * January 1 – Swedish biologist Carl Linnaeus (Carl von Linné) publishes in Stockholm the first volume (''Animalia'') of the 10th edition of ''Systema Naturae'', the starting point of modern zoologic ...

) (European conger) * †''

Conger davidsmithi ''Conger'' ( ) is a genus 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 t ...

'' (Schwarzhans, 2019) * ''

Conger erebennus ''Conger erebennus'' is an eel in the family Congridae (conger/garden eels). It was described by David Starr Jordan and John Otterbein Snyder in 1901, originally under the genus ''Leptocephalus''. It is a marine, temperate water-dwelling eel w ...

'' ( D. S. Jordan & Snyder, 1901) (Anaconger) * '' Conger esculentus'' Poey, 1861 (grey conger) * ''

Conger japonicus The whitespotted conger (''Conger myriaster'') ( Japanese: ; ''ma-anago'') is a marine conger eel, widespread in the Northwest Pacific near the coasts of Japan, Korean Peninsula, and the East China Sea The East China Sea is a marginal sea ...

'' Bleeker, 1879 * ''

Conger jordani ''Conger'' ( ) is a genus 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 ...

'' Kanazawa, 1958 * ''

Conger macrocephalus ''Conger macrocephalus'' is an eel in the family Congridae (conger/garden eels).''Co ...

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 ''Conger'' ( ) is a genus 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 t ...

'' Phillipps, 1932 * '' Conger myriaster'' ( Brevoort, 1856) (whitespotted conger) * ''

Conger oceanicus The American conger (''Conger oceanicus'') is a species of eel in the family Congridae. 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 f ...

'' ( 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 The southern conger (''Conger verreauxi'') is a conger of 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 t ...

'' Kaup, 1856 (southern conger) * '' Conger wilsoni'' (

Bloch Bloch is a surname of German origin. Notable people with this surname include: A *Adele Bloch-Bauer (1881–1925), Austrian entrepreneur *Albert Bloch (1882–1961), American painter *Alexandre Bloch (1857–1919), French painter *Alfred 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 The European conger (''Conger conger'') is a species of conger of the family Congridae. It is the heaviest eel in the world and native to the northeast Atlantic, including the Mediterranean Sea. Description and behaviour European congers have ...

eel in

Killary Harbour Killary Harbour or Killary Fjord () is a fjord or fjard on the west coast of Ireland, in northern Connemara. To its north is County Mayo and the mountains of Mweelrea and Ben Gorm; to its south is County Galway and the Maumturk Mountains. S ...

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