{{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'' | taxon = Congridae | authority = Kaup, 1856<ref name = VDLEF>{{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 }}</ref> | subdivision_ranks = Subfamilies | subdivision = Bathymyrinae<br/> Congrinae<br/> Heterocongrinae }} [[Image:Heteroconger hassi (Spotted garden eel) AB.jpg|thumb|Spotted garden eel (''Heteroconger hassi'')]] 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).<ref name=EoF>{{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}}</ref> The family includes over 220 species in 32 genera.
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 {{convert|3|m|ft|abbr=on}} in length and weighing {{convert|350|lb|kg|abbr=on}}.<ref>[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 }}</ref>
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.<ref name=FB>{{FishBase_family|family=Congridae|year=2008|month=December}}</ref>
The earliest known fossils of this group are otoliths from the Campanian of the United States.<ref>{{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}}</ref> A number of articulated specimens are known from the Paleogene of Europe.<ref name="Schwarzhans2022">{{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 }}</ref>
==Genera== The Congridae is divided into the following subfamilies and genera:<ref name = VDLEF/><ref name = CofF>{{Cof family|family=Congridae|access-date=15 November 2024}}</ref>
{{div col|colwidth=25em}} * {{extinct}}''Alaconger'' <small>Schwarzhans, 2010</small> (2 species; otolith-based taxon; Late Cretaceous of the United States and Germany) * {{extinct}}''Bolcyrus'' <small>Blot, 1978</small> (1 species, fossil; Eocene of Italy) * {{extinct}}''Congrophichthus'' <small>Schwarzhans & Stringer,2020</small> (1 species; otolith-based taxon; Late Cretaceous and Early Paleocene of the United States) * {{extinct}}''Voltaconger'' <small>Blot, 1978</small>' (1 species, fossil; Eocene of Italy) * Subfamily Bathymyrinae <small>J. E. Böhlke, 1949</small> ** ''Ariosoma'' <small>Swainson, 1838</small> (39 species) ** ''Bathymyrus'' <small>Alcock, 1889</small> (three species) ** ''Chiloconger'' <small>Myers & Wade, 1941</small> (two species) ** ''Kenyaconger'' <small>D. G. Smith & Karmovskaya, 2003</small> (one species) ** ''Parabathymyrus'' <small>Kamohara, 1938</small> (six species) ** ''Paraconger'' <small>Kanazawa, 1961</small> (seven species) ** ''Rostroconger'' <small>D. G. Smith, 2015</small> (one species) ** {{extinct}}''Paracongroides'' <small>Blot, 1978</small> (1 species, fossil; Eocene of Italy) ** {{extinct}}''Pavelichthys'' <small>Bannikov & Fedotov, 1984</small><ref name = Prokofiev>{{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}}</ref> (1 species, fossil; Oligocene of Russia) * Subfamily Congrinae <small>Kaup, 1856</small> ** ''Acromycter'' <small>D. G. Smith & Kanazawa, 1977</small> (five species) ** ''Bassanago'' <small>Whitley, 1938</small> (four species) ** ''Bathycongrus'' <small>Ogilby, 1898</small> (22 species) ** ''Bathyuroconger'' <small>Fowler, 1934</small> (six species) ** ''Blachea'' <small>Karrer & D. G. Smith, 1980</small> (two species) ** ''Castleichthys'' <small>D. G. Smith, 2004</small> (one species) ** ''Conger'' <small>Bosc, 1817</small> (21 species) ** ''Congrhynchus'' <small>Fowler, 1934</small> (one species) ** ''Congriscus'' D. S. Jordan & C. L. Hubbs, 1925 (three species) ** ''Congrosoma'' <small>Garman, 1899</small> (one species) ** ''Diploconger'' <small>Kotthaus, 1968</small> (one species) ** ''Gavialiceps'' <small>Alcock, 1889</small> (five species) ** ''Gnathophis'' <small>Kaup, 1859</small> (27 species) ** ''Japonoconger'' <small>Asano, 1958</small> (three species) ** ''Lumiconger'' <small>Castle & Paxton, 1984</small> (one species) ** ''Macrocephenchelys'' <small>Fowler, 1856</small> (two species) ** ''Paruroconger'' <small>Blache & Bauchot, 1976</small> ** ''Promyllantor'' <small>Allcock, 1890</small> (three species) ** ''Pseudophichthys'' <small>Roule, 1915</small> (one species) ** ''Rhynchoconger'' <small>D. S. Jordan & C. L. Hubbs, 1925</small> (10 species) ** ''Scalanago'' <small>Whitley, 1935</small> (one species) ** {{extinct}}''Smithconger'' <small>Carnevale, Schwarzhans, Schrøder & Lindow, 2022</small> (two species, fossil & otolith; Eocene of Denmark & New Zealand)<ref name="Schwarzhans2022"/> ** ''Uroconger'' <small>Kaup, 1856</small> (four species) ** ''Xenomystax'' <small>Gilbert, 1891</small> (five species) * Subfamily Heterocongrinae <small>Günther, 1870</small> (garden eels) ** ''Gorgasia'' <small>Meek & Hildebrand, 1923</small> (14 species) ** ''Heteroconger'' <small>Bleeker, 1868</small> (24 species) {{div col end}}
==See also== *List of fish families
==References== {{commons category|Congridae}} {{Reflist}}
{{Eel topics}} {{Taxonbar|from=Q724328}}
Category:Congridae Category:Marine fish families Category:Eel families
{{Anguilliformes-stub}} Category:Extant Campanian first appearances