SYSTEMATIC CATALOGUE OF FISHES. Ill 



nostril near margin of eye; and well-developed pectoral fins. The best known 

 genus, and the only one represented on the United States coast, is the following. 



Genus LEPTOCEPHALUS Scopoli. Conger Eels. 



Sea eels, similar to Anguilla and not always separated from it by fishermen, 

 but attaining a much greater size and easily distinguished by the absence of 

 scales, etc. A character in which this genus differs from the other American 

 genera of this family (Congermuraena and Uroconger) is the origin of the dorsal 

 fin posterior to the pectorals. Vomerine teeth in a band, none of them canine, 

 and jaw teeth in several series, of which the outer are close together and form a 

 cutting edge; the tail (i. e., the post-ventral part of the body) about half longer 

 than the remainder of body; lateral line present; branchial openings large; eyes 

 large. (Leptocephalus, slender head.) 



98. LEPTOCEPHALUS CONGER (Linnaeus). 

 Conger Eel; Sea Eel; Ocean Eel. 



Muroena conger Linna;us, Systema Natura?, ed. x, 245, 1758; Europe. 



Conger conger, Jenkins, 1885, 11; Beaufort. Jordan, 1886. 26; Beaufort. Jenkins, 1887, 86; Beaufort. 



Leptocephalus conger, Jordan & Evermann, 1896, 354, pi. hii, fig. 148. I.inton, 1905, 351; Beaufort. 



Fig. 35. Conger Eel. Leptocephalii 



Diagnosis. — Body elongate, rounded, depth .4 length of head; head flattened, pointed, 

 somewhat more than .5 as long as trunk and .11 total length; mouth large, its angle under or be- 

 yond posterior margin of eye; lips thick, upper lip with prominent pores; eye .16 to .20 length 

 of head and .66 length of snout; lateral line with conspicuous pores; dorsal fin arising over 

 posterior extremity of pectorals; pectorals .3 length of head. Color: above black or dark 

 olive green, beneath white; vertical fins with a narrow black border, {conger, ancient Latin 

 name for this fish.) 



A very widely distributed species, common in Europe, Asia, Africa, and on 

 the east coast of America from Massachussetts to Brazil. In North Carolina it 

 is not uncommon about Beaufort, in the harbor and in Newport and North 

 rivers, and in the salt-water sounds. It reaches a very large size, European 

 examples which weighed 90 to 100 pounds being recorded; 10 to 15-pound 

 specimens are not infrequently taken on our coast. 



The eggs of the conger, which are laid at sea during summer, are about .01 

 inch in diameter and float at the surface. The number produced by a single eel 



