Conger (European) eel
Conger conger
IUCN Status:Least Concern
One of the largest eels in the world, the European conger is a stealthy, solitary hunter full of mystery when it comes to mating.
What do they look like?
The European conger eel is one of the largest eel species in the world. It is slate grey with a menacing appearance. Its snake-like body is smooth and scaleless. They are nocturnal and will spend the day hiding in rocky crevices to rest and hide from larger predators such as dolphins, seals and even other conger eels.
Where can they be found?
Conger eels live in crevices in harbour walls, and amongst rocky terrain underwater.
Did you know... Tales of sea serpents off the British coast were most likely over-exaggerated sightings of conger eels because of their territorial nature and how they looked.
Key facts
Conger eels are usually solitary but might be found in the same reef. However, they are quite territorial and will become aggressive towards anything that comes too close to their crevice. Young congers are less territorial though so may be found sharing a space before finding their own hiding spot.
European conger eels will leave their holes at night to patrol the reef around them. They are stealth hunters and will use their sense of smell to find hiding prey before lunging with a fast sideways snap of the head where its strong jaw will hold slippery fish and octopus.
Like the common eel, conger mating habits are unobserved. They will mysteriously disappear from our shores to breed and migrate to the deep Atlantic. Though, it remains a bit of a mystery, scientist know that conger eels spawn only once and then will die. Their larvae will then drift back to Europe before growing into the next generation of juvenile eels.
| IUCN status | Least Concern |
|---|---|
| Diet | European conger eels will eat almost anything they can. Though they mostly eat crustaceans and small fish. They might also try to eat octopuses if they think they will win. However, there have been cases where the octopus ends up killing them instead. |
| Length | They can grow to approximately 3 metres long. That’s just under the length of a small car! |
| Weight | The heaviest recorded conger eel was around 110kg. However, most adults seen around our coasts will weigh between 3-25kg. |
| Distance | Conger eels will spend most of their life living and hunting around their hiding spot. However they will travel up to 3000km to the Atlantic when they are ready to breed. They will not make the return trip back though. |
| Age | European conger eels can live up to 40 years but generally they will reach 30 before deciding to make the migration to mate and die. This makes them one of the UK's longest living fish. |
