Congridae

Conger and garden eels
Temporal range: Campanian–present
Conger conger
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Actinopterygii
Order: Anguilliformes
Suborder: Congroidei
Family: Congridae
Kaup, 1856[1]
Subfamilies

Bathymyrinae
Congrinae
Heterocongrinae

The Congridae are the family of conger and garden eels. Congers are valuable and often large food fishes, while garden eels live in colonies, all protruding from the sea floor after the manner of plants in a garden (thus the name).[2] The family includes over 220 species in 32 genera.

The European conger, Conger conger, is the largest of the family and of the Anguilliformes order that includes it; it has been recorded at up to 3 m (9.8 ft) in length and weighing 350 lb (160 kg).[3]

Congrids are found in tropical, subtropical and temperate seas around the world. Clear distinguishing features among congrids are few; they all lack scales, and most possess pectoral fins. They feed on crustaceans and small fish.[4]

The earliest known fossils of this group are otoliths from the Campanian of the United States.[5] A number of articulated specimens are known from the Paleogene of Europe.[6]

Genera

The Congridae is divided into the following subfamilies and genera:[1][7]

See also

References

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Congridae.
  1. ^ a b Richard van der Laan; William N. Eschmeyer & Ronald Fricke (2014). "Family-group names of recent fishes". Zootaxa. 3882 (2): 1–230. doi:10.11646/zootaxa.3882.1.1. PMID 25543675.
  2. ^ McCosker, John F. (1998). Paxton, J.R.; Eschmeyer, W.N. (eds.). Encyclopedia of Fishes. San Diego: Academic Press. pp. 88–89. ISBN 0-12-547665-5.
  3. ^ British Conger Club Archived 2005-01-03 at the Wayback Machine
  4. ^ Froese, Rainer; Pauly, Daniel (eds.). "Family Congridae". FishBase. December 2008 version.
  5. ^ Schwarzhans, Werner; Stringer, Gary L. (2020-05-06). "Fish Otoliths from the Late Maastrichtian Kemp Clay (Texas, Usa) and the Early Danian Clayton Formation (Arkansas, Usa) and an Assessment of Extinction and Survival of Teleost Lineages Across the K-Pg Boundary Based on Otoliths". Rivista Italiana di Paleontologia e Stratigrafia. 126 (2). doi:10.13130/2039-4942/13425. ISSN 2039-4942.
  6. ^ Dipartimento di Scienze della Terra, Università degli Studi di Torino, Italy; Carnevale, Giorgio; Schwarzhans, Werner; Natural History Museum of Denmark; Schrøder, Ane Elise; Natural History Museum of Denmark; Lindow, Bent Erik Kramer; Natural History Museum of Denmark (2022-04-22). "An Eocene conger eel (Teleostei, Anguilliformes) from the Lillebælt Clay Formation, Denmark". Bulletin of the Geological Society of Denmark. 70: 53–67. doi:10.37570/bgsd-2022-70-05-rev.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  7. ^ Eschmeyer, William N.; Fricke, Ron & van der Laan, Richard (eds.). "Genera in the family Congridae". Catalog of Fishes. California Academy of Sciences. Retrieved 15 November 2024.
  8. ^ Prokofiev, A.M. (2007). "A redescription and relationships of the congrid eel Pavelichthys daniltshenkoi (Anguilliformes: Congridae) from the lower Oligocene of Northern Caucasus". Journal of Ichthyology. 47: 335–340. doi:10.1134/S0032945207050013.


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