conger eel
Conger oceanicus (Mitchill, 1818)
Accepted species in Catalogue of Life’s 11 September 2026 base release. This preserves the source classification and available supporting data; it is not a completed species monograph.
Conger oceanicus from the Gulf of Mexico
SEFSC Pascagoula Laboratory; Collection of Brandi Noble, NOAA/NMFS/SEFSC · Public domain · Image sourceProvider-generated thumbnail requested at 320 pixels; no local editing Local WebP display rendition; resized without cropping.
Open encyclopedia reference
The American conger (Conger oceanicus) is a species of eel in the family Congridae. Other common names for this fish include conger, dog eel, poison eel and sea eel. It is a marine fish with a widespread distribution in the Western Atlantic from Cape Cod in Massachusetts to northeastern Florida in United States and the northern Gulf of Mexico, and is also reported from near the mid-Atlantic island of St. Helena and off the coast of Nova Scotia in Canada. With a dark-grayish color, it can grow to about 6.5 feet (2.0 m) long and weigh more than 40 kg (88 lb).
Wikipedia contributors, American conger; see linked history · CC BY-SA 4.0 . Plain-text lead excerpt, at most 180 words; no infobox or later sections Retrieved 2026-10-05T02:51:02.236057+00:00. This reference remains separate from the taxonomic record.
Identity & source status
- Scientific name
- Conger oceanicus (Mitchill, 1818)
- Name authority
- (Mitchill, 1818)
- Common name
- conger eel
- Rank
- species
- Accepted status
- accepted
- Kingdom
- Animalia
- Phylum
- Chordata
- Class
- Teleostei
- Order
- Anguilliformes
- Family
- Congridae
- Genus
- Conger
- Extinction status
- Not supplied by this source
Source habitat flags: Marine: yes · Freshwater: no · Terrestrial: no. These do not form a complete habitat description.
Classification family tree
Nested taxonomic groups from the source. This is not a direct-ancestor chain, a dated evolutionary tree or a phylogenetic reconstruction.
- domainEukaryota (Chatton, 1925) Whittaker & Margulis, 1978
- kingdomAnimalia
- phylumChordata
- subphylumVertebrata
- infraphylumGnathostomata
- parvphylumOsteichthyes
- gigaclassActinopterygii
- superclassActinopteri
- classTeleostei
- orderAnguilliformes
- familyCongridae Kaup, 1856
- subfamilyCongrinae Kaup, 1856
- genusConger Bosc, 1817
- speciesConger oceanicus (Mitchill, 1818)
Close classified relatives
These entries share the source’s genus, Conger. They are not necessarily the closest relatives established by molecular evidence.
| Species | Classification | Source status |
|---|---|---|
| Conger monganius (Phillipps, 1932) | CongridaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Conger brevisulcus (Schwarzhans, 1980) | CongridaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extinct |
| Beach congerConger japonicus Bleeker, 1879 | CongridaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Conger marginatus Valenciennes, 1850 | CongridaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Conger oligoporus Kanazawa, 1958 | CongridaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Conger philippinus Kanazawa, 1958 | CongridaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Cape congerConger wilsoni (Bloch & Schneider, 1801) | CongridaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Conger orbignianus Valenciennes, 1837 | CongridaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
Names & synonyms
Names explicitly linked to this accepted taxon in the source. Synonymy can change with revision.
| Recorded name | Source status |
|---|---|
| Anguilla oceanica Mitchill, 1818 Mitchill, 1818 | synonym |
| Conger oceanica (Mitchill, 1818) (Mitchill, 1818) | synonym |
Source literature & publication evidence
References attached to this source record, including nomenclatural citations where supplied. This is a selected bibliography; abbreviated citations remain in the source’s form.
- https://www.marinespecies.org/aphia.php?p=taxdetails&id=158566 Source fields: Taxon.tsv dwc:namePublishedIn, Taxon.tsv dcterms:references
Origins, evidence & remaining research
Name authority and publication references document nomenclature where the source supplies it. They do not establish evolutionary origins or the earliest fossil occurrence.
Specimen-level evidence, morphology, ecological research, phylogenetic studies, a comprehensive bibliography and a located literary passage have not yet been compiled for this record.
Dataset citation & attribution
This exact taxon in ChecklistBank · Catalogue of Life 2026-09-11
Catalogue of Life 2026-09-11; dataset 316321; doi:10.48580/dgz5n. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ . Retrieved 5 October 2026.
Stable key: col:XLHP. Classification follows source parent identifiers. English common names may vary by region.