Conger
Conger (/ˈkɒŋɡər/ KONG-gər) is a genus of marine congrid eels. It includes some of the largest types of eels, ranging up to 2 m (6 ft) 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.
| Conger Temporal range: Early Eocene to Present | |
|---|---|
| Conger oceanicus | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Actinopterygii |
| Order: | Anguilliformes |
| Family: | Congridae |
| Subfamily: | Congrinae |
| Genus: | Conger Oken, 1817 |
| Type species | |
| Muraena conger Linnaeus, 1758 | |
| Species | |
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See text. | |
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 freshwater eels.
"Conger" or "conger eel" is sometimes included in the common names of species of the family Congridae, including members of this genus.