Conger

Conger is a genus of marine congrid eels. It includes some of the largest types of eels, ranging up to two metres or more in length, in the case of the European conger. Large congers have often been observed by divers during the day in parts of the Mediterranean Sea, and both European and American congers are sometimes caught by fishermen along the European and North American Atlantic coasts.

Conger

SEFSC Pascagoula Laboratory; Collection of Brandi Noble, NOAA/NMFS/SEFSC · Public Domain · via Wikipedia/Commons. May be a photograph of a specimen, or an artist’s reconstruction — an interpretation of a skeleton, since colour and soft tissue are almost never preserved.

On record

Recorded, not inferred
Sits inside
CongridaePBDB
Diet
carnivorePBDB, for Anguilliformes
Life habit
nektobenthicPBDB, for Anguilliformes
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Anguilliformes

Time the record covers

At least 59 million years on record.

The record covers at least 59.24 Mya to 129 ka. No occurrence read is dated outside 61.66 Mya to 0 Mya.

Paleocene — about 2 of 65 occurrencesPaleoceneEocene — about 38 of 65 occurrencesEoceneOligocene — about 3 of 65 occurrencesOligoceneMiocene — about 6 of 65 occurrencesMiocenePliocene — about 3 of 65 occurrencesPleistocene — about 13 of 65 occurrences63–61 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences61–59 Mya — about 1 occurrence57–55 Mya — about 1 occurrence55–52 Mya — about 2 occurrences52–50 Mya — about 3 occurrences50–48 Mya — about 3 occurrences48–46 Mya — about 6 occurrences46–44 Mya — about 5 occurrences44–42 Mya — about 6 occurrences42–40 Mya — about 5 occurrences40–38 Mya — about 3 occurrences38–36 Mya — about 2 occurrences36–34 Mya — about 2 occurrences34–31 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences31–29 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences29–27 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences27–25 Mya — about 1.0 occurrences25–23 Mya — about 1.0 occurrences23–21 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences21–19 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences19–17 Mya — about 3 occurrences17–15 Mya — about 2 occurrences15–13 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences6.3–4.2 Mya — about 1 occurrence4.2–2.1 Mya — about 2 occurrences2.1–0 Mya — about 13 occurrences59.24 Mya129 ka63 Mya0 Mya

65 occurrences of Conger on record, most of them in the Eocene. The Paleobiology Database records this as a living group. Bar height is expected occurrences, not a count: each fossil is spread across the span it is dated to, so a tall narrow bar means tight dating and a low wide one means loose.

When

65 occurrences

These are dates about fossils, not the animal: the record can only begin after it arose and end before it died out, so either end may reach further. Shares are expected occurrences: a fossil dated to a span is counted partly in each period it straddles. More on what this infers.

Found in

26 formations

Selsey — 50.80°N, 1.21°WMiretrain Marl — 43.56°N, 1.11°WElmore — 50.80°N, 1.20°WBashi — 31.93°N, 87.87°WBashi — 32.36°N, 88.72°WYazoo — 31.66°N, 92.90°WYazoo — 31.93°N, 91.94°WMoodys Branch — 32.23°N, 92.15°WMoodys Branch — 32.18°N, 90.15°WPiney Point — 37.61°N, 76.76°WNarita — 35.35°N, 140.10°EYorktown — 35.36°N, 76.82°WDanville Landing — 31.92°N, 91.92°WCantaure — 11.97°N, 70.02°WLellinge Greensand — 55.71°N, 12.60°EBassevelde Sand — 51.08°N, 4.35°EDonzacq Marl — 43.75°N, 0.84°WOtaio Gorge Sandstone — 44.52°S, 170.93°EWaihao Greensand — 44.40°S, 171.04°EMarnes de Saint-Etienne-d’Orthe — 43.57°N, 1.10°WNanjemoy — 37.75°N, 77.33°WHatchetigbee — 31.65°N, 88.09°WMiyata — 35.19°N, 39.65°ECook Mountain — 32.03°N, 88.70°W“upper” Lisbon — 31.82°N, 88.24°WYokosuka — 35.26°N, 139.72°EReklaw — 30.00°N, 97.25°W

Loading coastlines…

The named rock units Conger has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 2 further formations hold fewer occurrences each and are not listed. 22 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Conger and its relatives

Eocene

Where Conger and its relatives were recorded in the Eocene.

Found in the same rock

1,373 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 56 sites for Conger, and this reads all of them. The number is how many of those sites it was catalogued from too. The 24 sharing the most are listed.

This is not a list of everything alive at the time. It is only what has come out of the same ground as this animal and been written down.

Entered from

21 references

Each of the 65 occurrences read was entered from one of these publications, ordered by how many each accounts for. This is not a search for papers mentioning the name. 9 further references are not listed. Entries link to doi.org where the Paleobiology Database holds an identifier, and to its own record where it does not. Relayed as the Paleobiology Database holds them, not checked against what they resolve to.

Media and terms

Media content3

Picture of Conger

Credit
SEFSC Pascagoula Laboratory; Collection of Brandi Noble, NOAA/NMFS/SEFSC
Licence
Public Domain
Commercial use
the licence allows it

Synchrotron Imaging scan

Licence
not stated by the source
Commercial use
cannot be read from the licence given — check the record
Specimen
Conger conger · mnhn:ic:OS.PB-SP-24

3D model

Source
Sketchfab
Licence
CC0 Public Domain
Commercial use
the licence allows it

Smithsonian Open Access was not reached for this taxon, so this list is what the others held rather than everything there is.

The description on this site

Licence
CC BY-SA 4.0

This is what the site found, which is not the same as what exists.

Keep going

What may have been alongside itCongridae through timeFormations of the EoceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Schaeffer 1760