Conger eel is found in the north-east Atlantic, specifically around the shores of Iceland, west of Ireland, throughout the Celtic and North Seas, the coastal Mediterranean and the western coasts of Spain and western North Africa. The life history of the European conger eel is not well documented. It is demersal, living in rocky and sandy seafloor habitats anywhere from 10-1000m depth. It stays near coasts when young and moves to deeper waters when it matures, between 5 and 15 years old. Females undergo dramatic changes in size and skeletal structure when they reach sexual maturity, including loss of teeth, resulting them being unable to eat and subsequently dying after reproduction. There are differing opinions on whether males undergo a similarly dramatic change, and therefore whether they can reproduce multiple times in their lives. Spawning areas are thought to be in the deep sea, with known or suspected spawning grounds being in the Mediterranean, near Sardinia, and in the NE Atlantic, near the Azores. Larvae are then dispersed by currents back towards coastal areas around Europe. Because young congers tend to stay in the same areas until they reach maturity, there could be a number of discrete stocks for management purposes.