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.
| Conger and garden eels Temporal range:
| |
|---|---|
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| Conger conger | |
Scientific classification 
| |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Actinopterygii |
| Order: | Anguilliformes |
| Suborder: | Congroidei |
| Family: | Congridae Kaup, 1856[1] |
| Subfamilies | |
|
Bathymyrinae | |
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
editThe Congridae is divided into the following subfamilies and genera:[1][7]
- †Alaconger Schwarzhans, 2010 (2 species; otolith-based taxon; Late Cretaceous of the United States and Germany)
- †Bolcyrus Blot, 1978 (1 species, fossil; Eocene of Italy)
- †Congrophichthus Schwarzhans & Stringer,2020 (1 species; otolith-based taxon; Late Cretaceous and Early Paleocene of the United States)
- †Voltaconger' Blot, 1978' (1 species, fossil; Eocene of Italy)
- Subfamily Bathymyrinae J. E. Böhlke, 1949
- Ariosoma Swainson, 1838 (39 species)
- Bathymyrus Alcock, 1889 (three species)
- Chiloconger Myers & Wade, 1941 (two species)
- Kenyaconger D. G. Smith & Karmovskaya, 2003 (one species)
- Parabathymyrus Kamohara, 1938 (six species)
- Paraconger Kanazawa, 1961 (seven species)
- Rostroconger D. G. Smith, 2015 (one species)
- †Paracongroides Blot, 1978 (1 species, fossil; Eocene of Italy)
- †Pavelichthys Bannikov & Fedotov, 1984[8] (1 species, fossil; Oligocene of Russia)
- Subfamily Congrinae Kaup, 1856
- Acromycter D. G. Smith & Kanazawa, 1977 (five species)
- Bassanago Whitley, 1938 (four species)
- Bathycongrus Ogilby, 1898 (22 species)
- Bathyuroconger Fowler, 1934 (six species)
- Blachea Karrer & D. G. Smith, 1980 (two species)
- Castleichthys D. G. Smith, 2004 (one species)
- Conger Bosc, 1817 (21 species)
- Congrhynchus Fowler, 1934 (one species)
- Congriscus D. S. Jordan & C. L. Hubbs, 1925 (three species)
- Congrosoma Garman, 1899 (one species)
- Diploconger Kotthaus, 1968 (one species)
- Gavialiceps Alcock, 1889 (five species)
- Gnathophis Kaup, 1859 (27 species)
- Japonoconger Asano, 1958 (three species)
- Lumiconger Castle & Paxton, 1984 (one species)
- Macrocephenchelys Fowler, 1856 (two species)
- Paruroconger Blache & Bauchot, 1976
- Promyllantor Allcock, 1890 (three species)
- Pseudophichthys Roule, 1915 (one species)
- Rhynchoconger D. S. Jordan & C. L. Hubbs, 1925 (10 species)
- Scalanago Whitley, 1935 (one species)
- †Smithconger Schwarzans, 2007 (one species, fossil; Eocene of Denmark)
- Uroconger Kaup, 1856 (four species)
- Xenomystax Gilbert, 1891 (five species)
- Subfamily Heterocongrinae Günther, 1870 (garden eels)
- Gorgasia Meek & Hildebrand, 1923 (14 species)
- Heteroconger Bleeker, 1868 (24 species)
See also
editReferences
edit
- ^ 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.
- ^ 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.
- ^ British Conger Club Archived 2005-01-03 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ Froese, Rainer; Pauly, Daniel (eds.). "Family Congridae". FishBase. December 2008 version.
- ^ 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.
- ^ 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) - ^ 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.
- ^ 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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