Find a Fish
Southern Conger-eel
Conger verreauxi Haup, 1856
Fisherman, Kevin Hegner faxed a copy of the top two photographs to the Australian Museum for identification. Unfortunately it was not possible to identify the fish from the fax so Kevin brought the frozen specimen to the Fish Section for identification.
The fish was a 104cm long Southern Conger-eel Conger verreauxi, caught on hook and line at The Peak, New South Wales, at a depth of 110m. It is now stored in the Australian Museum Fish Collection (AMS I. 38901-001).
This species grows to a maximum length of 2m and feeds at night on fishes, crustaceans and cephalopods.
The distinctive bands of teeth can be seen in the bottom image.
The Southern Conger-eel occurs in southern waters of Australia and New Zealand.
It resembles the Short-finned Conger-eel (view fact sheet).
Further reading
- Kuiter, R.H. 1993. Coastal Fishes of South-Eastern Australia. Crawford House Press. Pp. 437.
- Kuiter, R.H. 1996. Guide to Sea Fishes of Australia. New Holland. Pp. 433.
- Castle, P.H.J. in Gomon, M.F. J.C.M. Glover & R.H. Kuiter (Eds). 1994. The Fishes of Australia's South Coast. State Print, Adelaide. Pp. 992.
