CONGER. 
1041 
may be gathered from the fact that it has been seen 
to tear asunder lines as thick as a man’s finger. It 
does great damage to fishing-tackle, and lays the fisher- 
man’s take under heavy contribution. It bites holes 
in the nets and drags out the fish. It creeps into 
lobster-pots, makes short work of the catch, and if the 
material of the pot is flexible, bores its way out, tail 
first, through one of the chinks. Like the common Eel, 
it is sensitive to changes in the weather. Immediately 
before a gale it is restless, and many Congers are cast 
ashore in stormy weather. It seems to suffer especially 
from cold. In winter it is often found half-dead at 
the surface, with air-bladder strongly distended. The 
cold apparently deprives it of command over the disten- 
sion of this organ. 
The rapacity of the Conger often embroils it with 
other pirates of the deep, and it falls a victim to por- 
poises, dolphins, Sharks, and large Rays. In the Medi- 
terranean one of its bitterest enemies is its own relative, 
the large Murmna, and the combats of these antagonists 
were famed even among the ancients. Against the 
Mursena its ordinary stratagems, such as suddenly tak- 
ing refuge in holes, or firmly coiling its tail round 
stones or in crevices, are of no avail; and as a proof 
of its tenacity of life the old story relates that the 
Murama bites off its tail, but that it survives the 
wound. 
The diet of the Conger comprises all kinds of fish 
— principally belonging to the Clupeoid and Gadoid 
families, and especially Rocklings — lobsters, crabs, and 
cuttles; and it shows no mercy to its own species. 
The Conger is consequently taken in numbers on the 
hook, Avith a bait of Herring or other fish; but the 
bait should, if possible, be fresh. Yet it does not 
disdain decomposing flesh, and it has been found con- 
cealed within the dead bodies of large animals. 
The spawning-season occurs in Avinter. Buckland 
estimated® the number of eggs in a female at over 
fifteen million, perhaps a liberal computation ; but Day 
mentions a femaie, Aveighing nearly 7 kilo., that had 
died in the Southport Aquarium, and the ovaries of 
Avhich Aveighed rather more than 3 kilo., containing 
over six million eggs. In fecundity the Conger is thus 
by no means inferior to the common Eel. The actual 
spawning has never been observed; but the young have 
been diligently studied in recent times, especially by 
the Italian Facciola 6 . He distinguishes between six 
different Leptocephalus forms belonging to this species, 
more or less distinct transition forms Avhich compose 
an unbroken series from the most degenerate larva?, 
Leptocephalus incequalis , or from the longer knoAvn 
Leptocephalus Morrisii, to the easily recognisable fry 
of Conger niger. The first-mentioned larva? are sharp- 
nosed, transparent, slender, but deep behind the middle 
of the body, are furnished Avith comparatively large, 
subulate jaw-teeth, and have the beginning of the dorsal 
fin situated in the posterior third of the length of the 
body, the vent in the hindmost fifth thereof. Lepto- 
cephalus Morrisii is blunt-nosed, Avith prominent tip 
of the snout, terete, though transparent, and of more 
uniform depth, has lost all the jaAV-teeth or the greater 
number thereof, and has the beginning of the dorsal 
fin situated at a distance from the tip of the snout 
measuring about 28 % of the length of the body, the 
vent at a distance from the same point measuring about 
38 % of the said length. The ascertained fry of Con- 
ger niger are brown on the back, and at first sIioav 
two longitudinal bands of chestnut-broAvn. As Ave have 
already remarked, however, the average size of the last- 
mentioned, least degenerate forms may be less than 
that of Leptocephalus incequalis. 
The subsequent growth of the Conger is apparently 
very rapid. Jackson, the manager of the Southport 
Aquarium, added to the collections a number of Con- 
gers weighing 2 — 3 lbs. (0'9 — 1*36 kilo.), Avhich he 
assumed to be about a year old. Five years aftenvards 
(in 1880) one of these specimens died, and Avas sent 
to Buckland. It measured 6 ft. 5 in. (1,956 mm.) 
and weighed 90 lbs. (40'8 kilo.). 
In aquaria the Conger is easily kept alive, but its 
ravenous hunger renders it a dangerous comrade to its 
fellow-captives. “We find these congers,’’ Avrote Jack- 
son, “are the most voracious creatures Ave keep; they 
attack and devour even dogfish, and these of a size 
that one Avould think beyond their powers of SAvalloAving. 
We have quite given up keeping the piked dogfish with 
them, and even the topers must be big ones, or down 
they go. The only safe things are our big sturgeons, 
monk-fish, skate, and the huge turbot Ave have reared 
from little ones (these latter continue to grow). Con- 
a Nat. Hist. Brit. Fish., p. 387. 
b ' ll Natnralista Siciliano, Anno XII, 1893, p. 194. 
