© Baker, J.L. (2009) Marine Species of Conservation Concern in South Australia Full citation Baker, J.L. (2009) Marine Species of Conservation Concern in South Australia: Volume 1 - Bony and Cartilaginous Fishes. Report for the South Australian Working Group for Marine Species of Conservation Concern. J. Baker (consultant); Science and Conservation Division, and Coast and Marine Conservation branches of S.A. Department for Environment and Heritage (DEH); Marine and Coastal Community Network of S.A. (MCCN), and Threatened Species Network (TSN). Web version published by Reef Watch, South Australia.

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CONGRIDAE: CONGER EELS

© Seafood Industry Council of New Zealand

Globally, the Congridae is a large marine family, containing 34 genera and at least 186 named species (Karmovskaya and Paxton, 2000; Smith and Karmovskaya, 2003; Smith, 2004; Froese and Pauly, 2007), distributed through the Atlantic, Indian and Pacific Oceans.
Members of the family have a complete lateral line, no scales on the body, slit-like gill openings, and most have pectoral fins (Nelson, 1994, cited in Froese and Pauly, 2007; Smith, 1999; Edgar, 2000).
Congers are small to large eels found in tropical to temperate seas worldwide; a few species can reach 2 to 3m total length, but most are much smaller. They occur primarily on sand or mud bottoms (sometimes reef), and most species live on the continental shelf or slope, though some species have been found to occur 2km deep. Many burrow during the day and actively forage at night. Most congers are bottom dwellers that feed on a variety of crustaceans and other invertebrates, and fishes (Smith, 1999; Karmovskaya and Paxton, 2000). The Heterocongrinae (Garden Eels), which do not occur in southern Australia, live in coral sand burrows, from which they protrude, to feed on plankton.
Globally, congers are caught by trawls, traps, and by hook-and-line, and are marketed mostly fresh. Because of their diversity and abundance, congrid eels probably have important ecological roles (Smith, 1999).
There are few species in southern Australia, within 4 genera (Castle, in Gomon et al., 1994), and the conger eels (in the genus Conger) are the most well known. In recent years, several new species in the genus Gnathophis have been described from around Australia, including species of apparent limited geographic distribution in one or two States of southern Australia, such as Gnathophis macroporis and G. melanocoelus, increasing the Australian total of species in Gnathophis to 8 (Karmovskaya and Paxton, 2000). During the early 2000s, a new genus and species of congrid eel was discovered in deeper water off north-western Australia (Smith, 2004).

Associated taxa

Southern Conger Eel & Short-finned Conger Eel / Eastern Conger Eel	Southern: Conger verreauxi Kaup, 1856 Short-finned / Eastern: C. wilsoni (Bloch & Schneider, 1801)
Little Conger Eel, Largepore Conger Eel and Umbrella Conger Eel	Little: Gnathophis longicauda (Ramsay & Ogilby, 1888) (N.B. commonly but incorrectly cited as the N.Z. species G. habenatus / havenatus (Richardson, 1848)) Largepore: G. macroporis Karmovskaya & Paxton, 2000 Umbrella: Gnathophis umbrellabius / umbrellabia (Whitley, 1946)
Ladder Eel	Scalanago lateralis Whitley, 1935