Congridae (Teleostei: Anguilliformes) Family Species of Distributing in the Turkish Seas and Their General Features

Abstract

The species of the Congridae family belonging to the Anguilliformes order are known as conger eel, and are morphologically similar to the eels which are among the species of the Anguillidae family. In both family species, the dorsal and anal fins are combined with the caudal fin. It is easily distinguished from eel species by the appearance of dorsal fin rays at a closer level to the head. There are 195 species belonging to 30 genus distributed in the world seas belonging to the Congridae family. A third genus of 3 species [Ariosoma balearicum (Delaroche, 1809), Gnathophis mystax (Delaroche, 1809) and Conger conger (Linnaeus, 1758)] shows the distribution of Turkish seas. While the first two species have distributed only Turkey's Aegean and Mediterranean seas, C. conger shows the distribution of all our seas. In this review, where morphological and biological characteristics of European conger are distributed in our country, all studies carried out both in our country and abroad are examined in detail and presented together. With this compilation study, especially biological information about species is missing in our country and attention has been made to contribute to the literature.