1038 
SCANDINAVIAN FISHES. 
Conger vulgaris ( Congre commun ), Cuv., R'egn. Aniin ., ed. I, 
tom. II, p. 231; Yaee., IJist. Brit. Fish., ed. I, vol. II, 
p. 304; Schleg. in Sieb., Fna Japon., Pise., p. 259; 
Blkr, Atl. Ichth. Ind. Or., tom. IV, p. 26, tab. CXLIX 
{Mur. V), fig. 2; Gthr, Cat. Brit. Mus., Fish., vol. VIII, 
p. 38; Coll., Forh. Vid. Selsk. Chrnia 1874, Tillsegsh., 
p. 199; 1879, No. 1, p. 99; Daeeste, Arch. Zool. Exper., 
tom. IV, p. 227; Winth., Naturh. Tidskr. Kbhvn, ser. 3, 
vol. XII, p. 51; Moe., Hist. Nat. Poiss. Fr., tom. Ill, p. 
565 ( + var. niger, p. 566); Mela, Vert. Fenn., p. 359, tab. 
X; M5b., Hcke, Fisch. Osts., p. 148; Day, Fish. Gt. Brit., 
Irel., vol. II, p. 250, tab. CXLII, fig. 2; Storm, Vid. Sels. 
Skr., Trondhj., 1883, p. 41; Lillj., Sv., Norg. Fna, Fisk., 
vol. Ill, p. 410; Cab., Prodr. Fnce Medit., vol. II, p. 541. 
Congrus leucopheeus , Richards., Ichth. Voy. Ereb., Terr., p. 
108. 
Conger occidentalis, Dek., N. York Fna, pt. IV, Fish., p. 
314, tab. LIII, fig. 172. 
Conger Linnei, Malm, Gbgs, Boh. Fna , p. 591. 
Form® larvales et degeneratse: 
Leptocephalus, Gronov., Zoophyl., fasc. I (1763), p. 135, No. 
410, tab. XIII, fig. 3; Morris, Penn., Brit. Zool., ed. 1776, 
vol. Ill, p. 139, tab. XXV, No. 67. 
Leptocephalus Morrisii, Gm., Syst. Nat. Lin., ed. XIII, tom. I, 
p. 1150; Yarr., Brit. Fish., ed. 2, vol. II, p. 311; Kp, 
Cat. Apod. Fish., Brit. Mus., p. 147; Couch, Hist. Fish. 
Brit. Isl., vol. IV, p. 348, tab. CCXXXVIII, fig. 2; Gthr, 
Cat. Brit. Mus., Fish., vol. VIII, p. 139; Moe., Hist. Nat. 
Poiss. Fr., tom. Ill, p. 567. 
Ilelmictis punctatus, Raf., Ind. Ittiol. Sic., p. 62, tab. II, 
fig. 3; Kp. {Leptocephalus), 1. c., p. 148, tab. XVII, fig. 
8 — sec. Moe. 
Leptocephalus Spallanzani, Risso, Fur. Mer., tom. Ill, p. 
205; Kp., 1. c., tab. XVII, fig. 7 — sec. Gthr. 
Leptocephalus Gussonii, Cocco, Isis 1831, p. 1340 — sec. 
Kp et Gthr. 
Leptocephalus candidissimus, Costa, Fna Reg. Nap., Peso., 
Malacott., Apod., tab. XX — sec. Kp., (?) sec. Gthr. 
Leptocephalus inaequalis, Facciola, Atti. Soc. Tosc. Sc. Nat., 
vol. VI, fasc. 1; Natural. Sicil., Anno XII (1893), p. 194. 
Obs. Dareste proposed (1. c.) to unite with this species, or 
at least to regard as a variety thereof, the East Indian and East 
African Conger marginatus, Val., Gthr = Conger Noordzieki , Blkr, 
and judging from the variability of the preceding species, there would 
seem to be good reasons for this opinion. But apart from the more 
elongated (shallower) form of the body, the higher dorsal .fin, and 
the black-spotted pectoral fins, characters of Conger marginatus that 
Bleeker in particular laid stress upon, we find a remarkable difference 
in the shorter trunk of the last-mentioned species — the beginning of 
the anal fin being separated from the tip of the snout by a distance 
of about 36 % of the length of the body — and in the commencement 
of the dorsal fin being still more advanced — the length of the head 
measuring about 79 or 80 % of the distance between the dorsal fin 
and the tip of the snout. In these respects the species is conse- 
quently still farther removed from the preceding genus than Coyiger niger. 
The Conger, in Sweden known as the Hafsdl (Sea- 
Eel) or sometimes, in Bohusl&n, as the Konger-al, so 
closely resembles the Common Eel in the form of the 
body that no long description is necessary. The most 
prominent differences from the preceding species are 
the greater extension in a forward direction of the 
dorsal tin, the more pointed tail, the longer snout, and 
the larger, more oval eyes. As a rule too the Conger 
is distinguished by its far more considerable size. In 
Scandinavian waters it is, we may almost say, rare to 
find Congers so small that they might be mistaken for 
Common Eels, though Krgyer mentions a specimen 
34 cm. long. The maximum length which can lie 
assigned with certainty to the Conger is about 2 l / 2 m - 
Day mentions a specimen of this length and weighing 
58 kilo. The largest specimen Collett had heard of 
from the Norwegian coast was taken at Farsund in 
September, 1883, measured nearly 23 dm., and weighed 
25 kilo. The greatest depth of the body in small 
Congers is about 5 %, in large ones about 10 or 1 1 %, 
of the length of the body, except in the case of fe- 
males with belly monstrously distended by the tumid 
ovaries. 
The length of the head commonly varies between 
about 13V S and 15 V 2 % (sometimes as much as 17 %) 
of that of the body. Its form is the same as in the 
preceding species, with the above-mentioned exception 
that the snout is longer, and the tip of the snout 
usually projects beyond that of the lower jaw, though 
this is by no means constant, both jaws being some- 
times of equal length. The eyes are oval, some- 
times so distinctly that the vertical diameter is only 
s / 4 or even 2 / 3 of the horizontal, sometimes, in old 
specimens, less perceptibly. During the growth of the 
Conger from a length of 37 2 to one of 16 dm. the 
longitudinal diameter of the eyes varies between 1 9 
and 11 % of the length of the head. The length of 
the snout varies between 25 (257 2 > according to Krd- 
yer) and 28 %, and the postorbital length is about 2 / 3 
(66 — 64 %), of the length of the head. The interorbital 
width increases in these Congers from about 15 to 24 % 
of the length of the head, the longitudinal diameter of 
the eyes, which in young Congers is greater than this 
width, being in the old only about half thereof, and 
their vertical diameter decreasing during these altera- 
tions of growth from about 4 / 5 to 2 / 5 or even approach- 
ing 1 / 3 of the same. The posterior nostril on each side 
is a longitudinal slit in front of the anterior upper 
corner of the eye, in young specimens measuring only 
about 7 i 2 °f the longitudinal diameter of the eyes, in 
old up to about 1 / i of the same and separated from 
the eye by a distance about equal to its own length. 
The anterior nostrils are set here too one on each side 
