# Congridae
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> Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Congridae
> Source revision: 1356858550
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{{Short description|Family of fishes}}
{{Automatic_taxobox
| name = Conger and garden eels
| fossil_range = {{fossil range|Campanian|present}}
| image = Conger conger Gervais.jpg
| image_caption = ''[Conger conger](/source/Conger_conger)''
| taxon = Congridae
| authority = [Kaup](/source/Johann_Jakob_Kaup), 1856[{{cite journal | author1 = Richard van der Laan | author2 = William N. Eschmeyer | author3 = Ronald Fricke | name-list-style = amp |year=2014 | title = Family-group names of recent fishes | url = https://biotaxa.org/Zootaxa/article/view/zootaxa.3882.1.1/10480 | journal = Zootaxa | volume = 3882 | issue = 2 | pages = 1–230| doi = 10.11646/zootaxa.3882.1.1 | pmid = 25543675 | doi-access = free }}]
| subdivision_ranks = Subfamilies
| subdivision = Bathymyrinae
[Congrinae](/source/Congrinae)
[Heterocongrinae](/source/Heterocongrinae)
}}
[[Image:Heteroconger hassi (Spotted garden eel) AB.jpg|thumb|[Spotted garden eel](/source/Spotted_garden_eel) (''Heteroconger hassi'')]]
The '''Congridae''' are the family of '''conger''' and '''[garden eel](/source/garden_eel)s'''. Congers are valuable and often large [food fish](/source/food_fish)es, while garden eels live in colonies, all protruding from the sea floor after the manner of plants in a garden (thus the name).[{{cite book |editor1=Paxton, J.R. |editor2=Eschmeyer, W.N. |author= McCosker, John F.|year=1998|title=Encyclopedia of Fishes|publisher= Academic Press|location=San Diego|pages= 88–89|isbn= 0-12-547665-5}}] The family includes over 220 species in 32 genera.
The [European conger](/source/European_conger), ''Conger conger'', is the largest of the family and of the [Anguilliformes](/source/Anguilliformes) order that includes it; it has been recorded at up to {{convert|3|m|ft|abbr=on}} in length and weighing {{convert|350|lb|kg|abbr=on}}.[[http://www.britishcongerclub.org.uk/conger/conger.htm British Conger Club] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050103014002/http://www.britishcongerclub.org.uk/conger/conger.htm |date=2005-01-03 }}]
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 fin](/source/pectoral_fin)s. They feed on crustaceans and small fish.[{{FishBase_family|family=Congridae|year=2008|month=December}}]
The earliest known fossils of this group are otoliths from the [Campanian](/source/Campanian) of the United States.[{{Cite journal |last1=Schwarzhans |first1=Werner |last2=Stringer |first2=Gary L. |date=2020-05-06 |title=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 |url=https://riviste.unimi.it/index.php/RIPS/article/view/13425 |journal=Rivista Italiana di Paleontologia e Stratigrafia |language=en |volume=126 |issue=2 |doi=10.13130/2039-4942/13425 |issn=2039-4942}}] A number of articulated specimens are known from the [Paleogene](/source/Paleogene) of Europe.[{{Cite journal |last1=Carnevale |first1=Giorgio |last2=Schwarzhans |first2=Werner |last3=Schrøder |first3=Ane Elise |last4=Lindow |first4=Bent Erik Kramer |date=2022-04-22 |title=An Eocene conger eel (Teleostei, Anguilliformes) from the Lillebælt Clay Formation, Denmark |url=https://2dgf.dk/publikationer/bulletin/bulletin-volume-70-2022/#5 |journal=Bulletin of the Geological Society of Denmark |volume=70 |pages=53–67 |issn=2245-7070 |doi=10.37570/bgsd-2022-70-05-rev |doi-access=free }}]
==Genera==
The Congridae is divided into the following subfamilies and genera:[{{Cof family|family=Congridae|access-date=15 November 2024}}]
{{div col|colwidth=25em}}
* {{extinct}}''[Alaconger](/source/Alaconger)'' [Schwarzhans](/source/Werner_Schwarzhans), 2010 (2 species; [otolith](/source/otolith)-based taxon; [Late Cretaceous](/source/Late_Cretaceous) of the United States and Germany)
* {{extinct}}''[Bolcyrus](/source/Bolcyrus)'' [Blot](/source/Jacques_Blot), 1978 (1 species, fossil; Eocene of Italy)
* {{extinct}}''[Congrophichthus](/source/Congrophichthus)'' Schwarzhans & [Stringer](/source/Gary_L._Stringer),2020 (1 species; otolith-based taxon; Late Cretaceous and [Early Paleocene](/source/Early_Paleocene) of the United States)
* {{extinct}}''[Voltaconger](/source/Voltaconger)'' Blot, 1978' (1 species, fossil; Eocene of Italy)
* Subfamily [Bathymyrinae](/source/Bathymyrinae) [J. E. Böhlke](/source/James_Erwin_B%C3%B6hlke), 1949
** ''[Ariosoma](/source/Ariosoma)'' [Swainson](/source/William_Swainson), 1838 (39 species)
** ''[Bathymyrus](/source/Bathymyrus)'' [Alcock](/source/Alfred_William_Alcock), 1889 (three species)
** ''[Chiloconger](/source/Chiloconger)'' [Myers](/source/George_S._Myers) & [Wade](/source/Charles_Barkley_Wade), 1941 (two species)
** ''[Kenyaconger](/source/Kenyaconger)'' [D. G. Smith](/source/David_G._Smith_(ichthyologist)) & [Karmovskaya](/source/Emma_Stanislavovna_Karmovskaya), 2003 (one species)
** ''[Parabathymyrus](/source/Parabathymyrus)'' [Kamohara](/source/Toshiji_Kamohara), 1938 (six species)
** ''[Paraconger](/source/Paraconger)'' [Kanazawa](/source/Robert_H._Kanazawa), 1961 (seven species)
** ''[Rostroconger](/source/Rostroconger)'' D. G. Smith, 2015 (one species)
** {{extinct}}''[Paracongroides](/source/Paracongroides)'' Blot, 1978 (1 species, fossil; Eocene of Italy)
** {{extinct}}''[Pavelichthys](/source/Pavelichthys)'' [Bannikov](/source/Alexandre_Fedorovich_Bannikov) & [Fedotov](/source/V._F._Fedotov), 1984[{{cite journal |author=Prokofiev, A.M. |title=A redescription and relationships of the congrid eel ''Pavelichthys daniltshenkoi'' (Anguilliformes: Congridae) from the lower Oligocene of Northern Caucasus |journal=Journal of Ichthyology |volume=47 |pages=335–340 |year=2007 |doi=10.1134/S0032945207050013}}] (1 species, fossil; Oligocene of Russia)
* Subfamily [Congrinae](/source/Congrinae) Kaup, 1856
** ''[Acromycter](/source/Acromycter)'' D. G. Smith & Kanazawa, 1977 (five species)
** ''[Bassanago](/source/Bassanago)'' [Whitley](/source/Gilbert_Percy_Whitley), 1938 (four species)
** ''[Bathycongrus](/source/Bathycongrus)'' [Ogilby](/source/James_Douglas_Ogilby), 1898 (22 species)
** ''[Bathyuroconger](/source/Bathyuroconger)'' [Fowler](/source/Henry_Weed_Fowler), 1934 (six species)
** ''[Blachea](/source/Blachea)'' [Karrer](/source/Christine_Karrer) & D. G. Smith, 1980 (two species)
** ''[Castleichthys](/source/Castleichthys)'' D. G. Smith, 2004 (one species)
** ''[Conger](/source/Conger)'' [Bosc](/source/Louis_Augustin_Guillaume_Bosc), 1817 (21 species)
** ''[Congrhynchus](/source/Congrhynchus)'' Fowler, 1934 (one species)
** ''[Congriscus](/source/Congriscus)'' [D. S. Jordan](/source/David_Starr_Jordan) & [C. L. Hubbs](/source/Carl_Leavitt_Hubbs), 1925 (three species)
** ''[Congrosoma](/source/Congrosoma)'' [Garman](/source/Samuel_Garman), 1899 (one species)
** ''[Diploconger](/source/Diploconger)'' [Kotthaus](/source/Adolf_Kotthaus), 1968 (one species)
** ''[Gavialiceps](/source/Gavialiceps)'' Alcock, 1889 (five species)
** ''[Gnathophis](/source/Gnathophis)'' Kaup, 1859 (27 species)
** ''[Japonoconger](/source/Japonoconger)'' [Asano](/source/Hirotoshi_Asano), 1958 (three species)
** ''[Lumiconger](/source/Lumiconger)'' [Castle](/source/Percy_Henry_John_Castle) & [Paxton](/source/John_Paxton_(ichthyologist)), 1984 (one species)
** ''[Macrocephenchelys](/source/Macrocephenchelys)'' Fowler, 1856 (two species)
** ''[Paruroconger](/source/Paruroconger)'' [Blache](/source/Jacques_Blache) & [Bauchot](/source/Marie-Louise_Bauchot), 1976
** ''[Promyllantor](/source/Promyllantor)'' Allcock, 1890 (three species)
** ''[Pseudophichthys](/source/Pseudophichthys)'' [Roule](/source/Louis_Roule), 1915 (one species)
** ''[Rhynchoconger](/source/Rhynchoconger)'' D. S. Jordan & C. L. Hubbs, 1925 (10 species)
** ''[Scalanago](/source/Scalanago)'' Whitley, 1935 (one species)
** {{extinct}}''[Smithconger](/source/Smithconger)'' Carnevale, Schwarzhans, Schrøder & Lindow, 2022 (two species, fossil & otolith; Eocene of Denmark & New Zealand)