Conger eel
Conger conger
Special features
The peculiarity of Conger eels lies primarily in females: they are only ready to reproduce after 15 years! The males are already sexually mature at 5 years of age.
As soon as they start to reproduce, the teeth of both sexes fall out and their digestive tract regresses, causing them to die after mating season.
Appearance
These snake-like sea creatures can weigh up to 110kg.
Her scaleless body has a gray base color and both dorsal and anal fins run flat across her back and stomach.
The pectoral fins, on the other hand, can be seen clearly sticking out from the body.
Natural enemies
Sharks, Dolphins
Dangerous/Venomous
Their blood is venomous, but otherwise, they are harmless.
Sketch
1. Clearly protruding pectoral fin
2. Continuous back and ventral fin
Pro tips
During the day, they usually hide between stones and in small caves.
At nighttime, they venture out to hunt fish, crabs, and cephalopods near the ground. Watch out: sometimes they even eat their own relatives!
The older they get, the more they love the depth, which is why you usually encounter young animals when diving.
The older animals can be found in their hatching grounds in the south of the Adriatic and in the waters of Sardinia, where the females lay up to 8 million eggs at once.
The larvae then live in shallow water.
Text: Carolina Leiter, Felician Hosp, Pia Balaka
Pic: Dive Dict
Illustration: Dive Dict
