Description: A long, medium-sized to large snake-like fish, body slightly laterally compressed anteriorly and more compressed towards the posterior extremity. Anus located before the midpoint of the body. Dorsal and anal fins confluent around tail. Dark grey above; pale ventrally; vertical fins with black edges.
Global Distribution: Eastern Atlantic, from Iceland to Senegal, including the Mediterranean and Black Sea. View Map
BIOLOGICAL FEATURES
Size: Maximum length 300 cm (total length); common length: male 100.0 cm (TL); female 150 cm (TL); maximum published weight: 110.0 kg. Females are usually larger than males.
Growth type: Positive allometric (Torres et al. 2012).
von Bertallanfy growth parameters:
Reproduction: Sexual maturity is reached at 5-15 years. Reproduces only once. Spawning occurs in the summer, at great depths. Like all anguilliformes it has a leptocephalous transparent larval form which is planktonic and lasts at least 1 year, possibly two. Metamorphosis occurs at 14-16 cm.
Maturity: 200.0 cm, age 5-15 years.
Behavioural ecology: Nocturnal. Usually shy but known to bite.
Population structure & migrations:
ECOLOGICAL FEATURES
Depth range: FishBase: 0 - 500 m.
Canary Islands (González et al. 2000): 0 - 800 m; (Brito et al. 2002): 2 - 800 m, more abundant between 150 - 300.
Madeira (DSIDP): detected between 70 m to at least 800 m.
Habitat: Benthic on rocky or sandy bottoms.
Feeding habits: Eats mostly fish, crustaceans and cephalopods.
Trophic level: FishBase: 4.3
FISHERIES
Commercial interest: Commercial species. Usually caught with traps; also hook-and-line.
Conservation status: Global: Not evaluated.
Europe: Least Concern.
Nutritional information & food safety:
Proximate composition per 100 g:
energy value 114.77 kcal (5.7% DRV)
protein 18.85 g (37.7% DRV)
fat 0.73 g (1.0% DRV)
of which saturates 0.21 g (1.1% DRV)
omega-3 (EPA+DHA): 0.264 g (recommended: 0.250 - 2.0 g daily)
Food safety: conger eels have extra bones amid the flesh; care must be taken while eating them.
REFERENCES
Carpenter K.E., ed. (2002). The living marine resources of the Western Central Atlantic. Volume 2: Bony fishes part 1 (Acipenseridae to Grammatidae). FAO Species Identification Guide for Fishery Purposes and American Society of Ichthyologists and Herpetologists Special Publication No. 5. FAO, Rome, pp. 601-1374.
Direcção de Serviços de Investigação e Desenvolvimento da Pesca, Direcção Regional de Pescas, Madeira.
Direcção Regional de Pescas, Madeira.
Ferreira S., Sousa R., Delgado J., Carvalho D., Chada T. (2008). Weight-length relationships for demersal fish species caught off the Madeira archipelago (eastern-central Atlantic). Journal of Applied Ichthyology, 24: 93-95.
Fischer W., Bianchi G., Scott W.B., eds. (1981). FAO species identification sheets for fishery purposes. Eastern Central Atlantic; fishing areas 34, 47 (in part). Canada Funds-in-Trust. Ottawa, Department of Fisheries and Oceans Canada, by arrangement with the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, vol. 2, 324 pp.
González J., Hernández C., Marrero P., Rapp E. (2000). Peces de Canarias: GuÃa Submarina (5th edition). Francisco Lemus Editor, Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Canarias, Spain, 235 pp.
Hureau J.-C., ed. (1984-1985). Fishes of the North-Eastern Atlantic and the Mediterranean. UNESCO. Accessed through: Marine Species Identification Portal. World Wide Web electronic publication. http://species-identification.org (2014).
INIP (1982). Programa de Apoio às Pescas na Madeira - II Cruzeiro de Reconhecimento de Pesca e Oceanografia 020170680, Cruzeiro de Reconhecimento de Pesca e Oceanografia 020241180. Relatório INIP 11, Lisboa, Portugal, 220 pp.
IUCN (2014). The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2014.1. www.iucnredlist.org
Nieto A., Ralph G.M., Comeros-Raynal M.T., Kemp J., GarcÃa Criado M., Allen D.J., Dulvy N.K., Walls R.H.L., Russell B., Pollard D., GarcÃa S., Craig M., Collette B.B., Pollom R., Biscoito M., Labbish Chao N., Abella A., Afonso P., Ãlvarez H., Carpenter K.E., Clò S., Cook R., Costa M.J., Delgado J., Dureuil M., Ellis J.R., Farrell E.D., Fernandes P., Florin A-B., Fordham S., Fowle, S., Gil de Sola L., Gil Herrera J., Goodpaster A., Harvey M., Heessen H., Herler J., Jung A., Karmovskaya E., Keskin C., Knudsen S.W., Kobyliansky S., KovaÄić M., Lawson J.M., Lorance P., McCully Phillips S., Munroe T., Nedreaas K., Nielsen J., Papaconstantinou C., Polidoro B., Pollock C.M., Rijnsdorp A.D., Sayer C., Scott J., Serena F., Smith-Vaniz W.F., Soldo A., Stump E., Williams J.T. (2015). Europen Red List of Marine Fishes. IUCN and European Union, Publications Office of the European Union, Luxembourg, 90 pp.
Rosa A., Menezes G., Melo O., Pinho M.R. (2006). Weight–length relationships of 33 demersal fish species from Azores archipelago. Fisheries Research, 80(2): 329-332.
Torres M.A., Ramos F., Sobrino I. (2012). Length–weight relationships of 76 fish species from the Gulf of Cadiz (SW Spain). Fisheries Research, 127: 171-175.
