Largetooth Conger, Bathyuroconger vicinus (Vaillant, 1888)

Scientific name: Bathyuroconger vicinus
Largetooth Conger, Bathyuroconger vicinus Click to enlarge image
A 122cm long Largetooth Conger trawled at a depth of approximately 1000m, by fishing vessel Rubicon, off Babel Island, Tasmania, April 2002 (AMS I.41361-001). Image: Stuart Humphreys
© Australian Museum

Fast Facts

  • Classification
    Genus
    Bathyuroconger
    Species
    vicinus
    Family
    Congridae
    Order
    Anguilliformes
    Class
    Actinopterygii
    Subphylum
    Vertebrata
    Phylum
    Chordata
    Kingdom
    Animalia
  • Size Range
    The species grows to at least 1.2 m in length.

Introduction

The Large-tooth Conger can be recognised by the long pointed teeth on both jaws and long dorsal and anal fin rays. In Australia the species has been caught off north-western Western Australia.

Largetooth Conger, Bathyuroconger sp.
A 122cm long Largetooth Conger trawled at a depth of approximately 1000m, by fishing vessel Rubicon, off Babel Island, Tasmania, April 2002 (AMS I.41361-001). Image: NSW Fisheries, Eden
© NSW Fisheries, Eden

Identification

The Large-tooth Conger can be recognised by the long pointed teeth on both jaws and long dorsal and anal fin rays. It is dark brown to black.

Largetooth Conger, Bathyuroconger vicinus
A 122cm long Largetooth Conger trawled at a depth of approximately 1000m, by fishing vessel Rubicon, off Babel Island, Tasmania, April 2002 (AMS I.41361-001). Image: Stuart Humphreys
© Australian Museum

Habitat

It is known to occur at depths from 229 m to 1318 m.

Distribution

It is recorded from the tropical Atlantic and Indo-West Pacific. In Australia the species has been caught off north-western Western Australia.

There are two additional specimens identified as B.vicinus in the Australian Museum Fish Collection. They were collected well out of the known range of the species. These 60 cm and 65 cm long fish were trawled in February 1979 at a depth of approximately 900 m, north-east of Raine Island, far northern Queensland.

Feeding and diet

The species preys on other fishes.

References

  1. Smith, D.G. 1989. Congridae in Fishes of the Western North Atlantic. Part 9 Volume 1: Orders Anguilliformes and Saccopharyngiformes. Sears Foundation for Marine Research, Yale University. Pp. 655.
  2. Smith, D.G., 1990. Congridae. in Quero, J.C., Hureau, J.C., Karrer, C., Post A. & L. Saldanha (eds.) Check-list of the fishes of the eastern tropical Atlantic (CLOFETA). JNICT, Lisbon; SEI, Paris; and UNESCO, Paris. Vol. 1: 158-159.