258 PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL MUSEUM vol. los 



Geographical range: From southern Queensland southward to 

 Tasmania and New Zealand. 



Remarks: In the English translation, Kaup's (1856b, p. 115) 

 locality of the type specimen of Conger verreauxi was omitted. Kaup's 

 description (1856b, p. 73) states "nach meinen verehrten Freunde 

 Julius Verreaux genannt, welcher ihn in Australien sammelte." 

 Whitley {in Griff en, 1936, p. 15) thinks that the type probably came 

 from Tasmania, where Verreaux collected. 



Castelnau (1879, p. 396) and Phillipps (1932, p. 229) mention a small 

 tentacle on each side of the snout; if this is so, C. verreauxi is the only 

 species in the genus that has such tentacles. 



There are two species of Conger in Australian waters. The main 

 difference between them appears to be in the number of vertebrae and 

 the origin of the dorsal fin, which is in a more anterior position in 

 C. verreauxi. 



Conger oceaniciis Mitchell 



Figures 2, 3; Plate 1,c 



Anguilla conger Mitchell, 1814, p. 360. 



Anguilla oceanica Mitchell, 1818, p. 407 (type locality, off New York, near 



Bloch Island).— Storer, 1846, p. 234. 

 Conger occidentalis De Kay, 1842, p. 314, pi. 53, fig. 172. 

 Isognatha oceanica Gill, 1861, p. 56. 

 Echelus conger Jordan, 1888, p. 90. 

 Leptocephalus conger Jordan and Davis, 1892, p. 664 (in part). — Jordan and 



Evermann, 1896, p. 354 (in part), pi. 57, fig. 148.— Smith, 1907, p. Ill, fig. 35.— 



Fowler, 1912, p. 9 (in part). 

 Conger conger Bigelow and Welsh, 1925, p. 86, fig. 36. — Hildebrand and Schroeder, 



1928, p. 116. — Jordan, Evermann and Clark, 1930, p. 79 (in part). 

 Conger oceanica Bigelow and Schroeder, 1953, p. 154, fig. 70. 



Specimens studied: 48 specimens, ranging in total length from 

 152 to 1052 mm., from the following localities: Massachusetts, 

 USNM 16961, 49682, 126121, 148152 (2) MCZ 35806; Connecticut, 

 USNM 16027, 43098, 14053 (2); Rhode Island, USNM 20745; New 

 York, USNM 48941; New Jersey, USNM 6827, 28717, 28765, 33053, 

 36908, 118205 thru 118210 (7); Virginia, USNM 32796-7-8, 90395; 

 Chesapeake Bay, USNM 127218; North Carolina, USNM 131327, 

 134184, CNHM 39999, 40000, 40331, AMNH 4369 (3), SNHM 

 1880; South Carolina, USNM 7418, 25352, 25358, SNHM 10314; 

 Florida (New Smyrna), USNM 62652; Mississippi, USNM 164239 

 (4); Atlantic Coast of United States, USNM 44341. 



Diagnosis: Pores in lateral line 39 to 44; pectoral rays 16 to 18; 

 vertebrae 140 to 147; diameter of eye 17 to 28. 



Description: Tip of snout to origin of dorsal fin 185 to 230; 

 length of pectoral fins 37 to 62; supratemporal pore 1; preoperculo- 



