116 
BULLETIN OF THE BUREAU OF FISHERIES 
Family XXIV. — CQNGRIMi. The conger eels 
Body elongate; tongue largely free anteriorly; posterior nostril remote from the upper lip and 
placed near the eye; lateral line present; scales wanting; dorsal and anal fins confluent around the 
tail; pectoral fins well developed. A single genus of this family is represented in the fauna of 
Chesapeake Bay. 
32. Genus CONGER Houttuyn. Conger eels 
Mouth large, the upper jaw projecting; nostrils remote from each other, the anterior near tip 
of snout and tubular, the posterior near the eye; origin of the dorsal over or behind middle of the 
pectorals. A single species occurs in Chesapeake Bay. 
43. Conger conger (Linnaeus). Conger eel; Sea eel; Silver eel. 
Mursena conger Linnseus, Syst. Nat., ed. X, 1758, 245; Mediterranean. 
Conger oceanica Uhler and Lugger, 1876, ed. I, p. ISO; ed. II, p. 153. 
Leptocephalus conger Jordan and Evermann, 1896-1900, p. 354, PL LVII, fig. 148. 
Head 6.35 to 7.3 in total length; depth 2.3 to 2.85 in head. Body elongate, anguilliform, round 
anteriorly, compressed posteriorly; head moderate; snout long, somewhat compressed, projecting 
beyond the mouth, 3.9 in head; eye 7.2 to 9; interorbital space 5.35 to 6.65; mouth inferior, slightly 
oblique; the gape reaching opposite posterior margin of pupil; anterior nostril situated on upper 
lip, provided with a short tube; lateral line complete, well developed; scales wanting; origin of dorsal 
over tips of pectorals, 0.4 to 0.7 length of head behind gill slit; predorsal length of body 4.6 to 5.15 
in total length; dorsal and anal fins rather low, continuous with the caudal fin, which is narrowly 
rounded; pectoral fins moderate, round, 2.9 to 3.07 in head. 
Color bluish gray, white beneath, dorsal fin with outer edge black, center light blue, dusky at 
base; anal pale with outer edge black; pectorals blue gray. 
This eel is represented in the present collection by two specimens, 320 and 685 millimeters 
(12)^ and 27 inches) in length. The conger eel is very similar in shape to the common fresh-water 
eel, from which it may be separated, however, by the projecting snout, the absence of scales, and 
by the very long dorsal fin, which has its origin about 0.4 to 0.7 the length of head behind the gill 
slit or over the tips of the pectoral fins, whereas in the fresh-water eel the origin of the dorsal is 
to 2 times the length of the head behind the gill slit and far behind the tips of the pectorals. 
The conger eel feeds chiefly on fish, but it also takes other animal foods. (Smith, 1907, p. 
112.) We have observed congers caught on the New Jersey coast on hooks baited with crab 
(Cancer) and clams (Macra, Mya). Cut fish is given as another bait. 
The conger eel deposits its eggs at sea but evidently not as far from the shores as the fresh- 
water eel, for what were presumably conger eggs were collected by the Gram-pus 30 miles south of 
Nantucket Lightship, off the southern Massachusetts coast. These eggs were pelagic and about 
one-tenth inch (2.4 to 2.75 millimeters) in diameter when fertilized. (Eigenmann, 1902, p. 40.) 
“The number produced by a single eel is enormous, exceeding 7,000,000 in certain large European 
specimens. A conger in the Berlin aquarium, weighing 22.5 pounds, had ovaries weighing 8 pounds ; 
which contained over 3,000,000 eggs (estimated).” (Smith, 1907, p. 111.) 
The young, like the common eel, pass through a ribbonlike or leptocephalus stage. At 
this period the larvae are recognized by the number of vertebrae and muscle segments, having 153 
to 159' or more, whereas the American fresh-water eel has about 107 and the European fresh-water 
eel 114. The conger leptocephalus reaches a length of about 6 inches, while the American fresh- 
water eel reaches a length of only about 2J^ inches and the European fresh-water eel only about 3 
inches. 
The conger eel seldom is caught in nets and nearly the entire catch is taken with hook and line. 
This eel is caught along our entire coast at least as far north as Woods Hole, where fish weighing up 
to 12 pounds are sometimes fairly common. The conger eel is a regular visitor along the Long 
Island and New Jersey coasts where from early summer to fall fish from 3 to 7 feet long and weighing 
up to 18 pounds are not uncommon. The usual length in the last-mentioned locality is 3J4 to 6 
feet, with a weight of 5 to 12 pounds. A Chesapeake specimen 27 inches in length weighed 1 pound 
7 K ounces. 
V 
