Classification / Names Common names | Synonyms | Catalog of Fishes (gen., sp.) | ITIS | CoL | WoRMS | Cloffa

Actinopterygii (ray-finned fishes) > Anguilliformes (Eels and morays) > Congridae (Conger and garden eels) > Congrinae
Etymology: Conger: Latin, conger = conger (Ref. 45335).

Environment / Climate / Range Ecology

Marine; demersal; oceanodromous (Ref. 51243); depth range 0 - 1171 m (Ref. 56504). Temperate, preferred 15°C (Ref. 107945); 68°N - 12°N, 32°W - 42°E

Distribution Countries | FAO areas | Ecosystems | Occurrences | Point map | Introductions | Faunafri

Eastern Atlantic: Norway and Iceland to Senegal. Also in the Mediterranean and Black Sea.

Length at first maturity / Size / Weight / Age

Maturity: L_m 200.0 range ? - ? cm
Max length : 300 cm TL male/unsexed; (Ref. 4453); common length : 100.0 cm TL male/unsexed; (Ref. 4645); common length :150 cm TL (female); max. published weight: 110.0 kg (Ref. 35388)

Found on rocky and sandy bottoms (Ref. 12382). Depth range from 0-500 m (Ref. 4453) and from 305-1171 m in the eastern Ionian Sea (Ref. 56504). It stays near the coast when young and moves toward deeper waters upon reaching adulthood (Ref. 5377). A nocturnal (Ref. 12382) predator of fish, crustaceans, and cephalopods (Ref. 6521). Like other species of the group, it reproduces only once in its life (Ref. 5377). Sexually mature at an age of 5-15 years. Spawn in summer in the Atlantic off Portugal and in the Mediterranean. Produces 3-8 million of eggs (Ref. 35388). Marketed fresh and frozen. Eaten fried and baked (Ref. 9988).

Life cycle and mating behavior Maturity | Reproduction | Spawning | Eggs | Fecundity | Larvae

Eggs are deposited in the open sea, at depths between 2,000 and 3,000 m (Ref. 12382).

Main reference Upload your references | References | Coordinator | Collaborators

Smith, D.G., 1990. Congridae. p. 156-167. In J.C. Quero, J.C. Hureau, C. Karrer, A. Post and L. Saldanha (eds.) Check-list of the fishes of the eastern tropical Atlantic (CLOFETA). JNICT, Lisbon; SEI, Paris; and UNESCO, Paris. Vol. 1. (Ref. 4453)

IUCN Red List Status (Ref. 115185)

Least Concern (LC)

CITES (Ref. 94142)

Not Evaluated

Threat to humans

Reports of ciguatera poisoning (Ref. 30911)

Human uses

Fisheries: commercial; gamefish: yes; aquarium: public aquariums

FAO(fisheries: production, species profile; publication : search) | FisheriesWiki | Sea Around Us

More information

Countries
FAO areas
Ecosystems
Occurrences
Introductions
Stocks
Ecology
Diet
Food items
Food consumption
Ration

Common names
Synonyms
Metabolism
Predators
Ecotoxicology
Reproduction
Maturity
Spawning
Fecundity
Eggs
Egg development

Age/Size
Growth
Length-weight
Length-length
Length-frequencies
Morphometrics
Morphology
Larvae
Larval dynamics
Recruitment
Abundance

References
Aquaculture
Aquaculture profile
Strains
Genetics
Allele frequencies
Heritability
Diseases
Processing
Mass conversion

Collaborators
Pictures
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Sounds
Ciguatera
Speed
Swim. type
Gill area
Otoliths
Brains
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Summary page | Point data | Common names | Photos

Internet sources

Estimates of some properties based on models

Phylogenetic diversity index (Ref. 82805): PD₅₀ = 0.5000 [Uniqueness, from 0.5 = low to 2.0 = high].

Bayesian length-weight: a=0.00039 (0.00029 - 0.00052), b=3.26 (3.19 - 3.33), in cm Total Length, based on LWR estimates for this species (Ref. 93245).

Trophic Level (Ref. 69278): 4.3 ±0.4 se; Based on diet studies.

Resilience (Ref. 69278): Very Low, minimum population doubling time more than 14 years (K=0.06; tm=5-15 (female tm>10); Fec=3,000,000).

Prior r = 0.27, 2 SD range = 0.16 - 0.46, log(r) = -1.31, SD log(r) = 0.27, Based on: 2 K, 2 tgen, 2 Fec records

Vulnerability (Ref. 59153): Very high vulnerability (86 of 100) .

Price category (Ref. 80766): Medium.

Conger conger (Linnaeus, 1758)