Hostname: page-component-76fb5796d-9pm4c Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-25T11:10:07.317Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

News about the reproductive ecology of the southern conger eel Conger orbignianus

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 November 2009

Daniel E. Figueroa ,
Gustavo Macchi  and
Manuel Haimovici
Daniel E. Figueroa*
Affiliation:
Departamento de Ciencias Marinas, Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales, Universidad Nacional de Mar del Plata, Funes 3350, Mar del Plata (7600), Argentina
Gustavo Macchi
Affiliation:
Instituto Nacional de Investigación y Desarrollo Pesquero (INIDEP), CC 175, Mar del Plata (7600), Argentina Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas (CONICET), Argentina
Manuel Haimovici
Affiliation:
Fundaçao Universidade do Rio Grande, Departamento de Oceanografia, Cx. Postal 474, Rio Grande (RS), Brazil
*
Correspondence should be addressed to: D.E. Figueroa, Departamento de Ciencias Marinas, Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales, Universidad Nacional de Mar del Plata, Funes 3350, Mar del Plata (7600), Argentina email dfiguer@mdp.edu.ar
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Congrids inhabit the warm and temperate seas of the world, from the coastline to the slope of various continents. Many of its species are much valued by commercial and artisan fishing; nevertheless, at world level, there is great ignorance about the life cycle of the members of this genus. Some species of the genus, such as those from the North Atlantic, appear to be semelparous, for they cease feeding, decalcify, loose their teeth and migrate to deep waters to spawn. Specimens of the southern conger eel Conger orbignianus were examined for the purpose of learning about their biology in waters of the western South Atlantic. Histological sections were analysed from ovaries of coastal conger specimens from the North Argentina coastal littoral, the Argentine Sea deep waters, and the giant congers from southern Brazil. Two oocitary generations have been observed in coastal females typical of total spawners, with a previtellogenetic batch that does not reach maturity, and a vitellogenetic batch that does it together with its size, completely surrounded by adipose tissue. The ovaries of fish captured in deep waters occupied the whole abdominal cavity, with scarce adipose tissue and degraded body. The giant congers from southern Brazil were captured in very deep waters, healthy, with few atretic oocytes and abundant adipose tissue. Evidence of semelparity was found in the southern conger eel; the asistosis stage, the body degradation during the reproductive migration and gigantism might be common attributes in other species of the genus.

Keywords

Conger orbignianuslife cyclehistological sectionssemelparity
Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom , Volume 90 , Issue 3 , May 2010 , pp. 461 - 465
Copyright
Copyright © Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom 2009

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Asano, H. (1962) Studies on the congrid eels of Japan. Bulletin of the Misaki Marine Biological Institute, Kyoto University 1, 1–143.Google Scholar
Bell, G.W., Witting, D.A. and Able, K.W. (2003) Aspects of metamorphosis and habitat use in the conger eel, Conger oceanicus. Copeia 2003, 544–552.Google Scholar
Bigelow, H.B. and Schroeder, W.C. (1953) Fishes of the Gulf of Maine. Bulletin of the Bureau of Fisheries, Washington 53, 1–577.Google Scholar
Bovcon, N.D. and Cochia, P.D. (2007) Guía para el reconocimiento de peces capturados por buques pesqueros monitoreados con observadores a bordo. Rawson: Publicación especial de la Secretaria de Pesca de la Provincia del Chubut.Google Scholar
Castle, P.J.H. (1964) Congrid leptocephali in Australasian waters with descriptions of Conger wilsoni (Bl. And Schn.) and C. verreauxi Kaup. Zoology Publications from Victoria University of Wellington 37, 1–45.Google Scholar
Castle, P.J.H. (1968) The world of eels. Tuatara 16, 85–97.Google Scholar
Cau, A. and Manconi, P. (1984) Relationship of feeding, reproductive cycle and bathymetric distribution in Conger conger. Marine Biology 81, 147–151.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cervigón, F. (1980) Ictiología marina. Caracas: Editorial Arte.Google Scholar
Correia, A.T., Antunes, C. and Coimbra, J. (2002) Aspects of the early life history of the European conger eel (Conger conger) inferred from the otolith microstructure of metamorphic larvae. Marine Biology 140, 165–173.Google Scholar
Cunningham, M.A. (1891–1892) On the reproduction and development of the Conger. Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom 2, 16–42.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Figueroa, D.E. (1999) Estudio sobre la anatomía y algunos aspectos de la biología de los congrios que habitan el Mar Argentino y adyacencias. Doctoral thesis. Universidad Nacional de Mar del Plata, Mar del Plata, Argentina.Google Scholar
Figueroa, D.E. and Ehrlich, M. (2006) Systematics and distribution of leptocephali in the western South Atlantic. Bulletin of Marine Science 78, 227–242.Google Scholar
Fishelson, L. (1994) Comparative internal morphology of deep-sea eels, with particular emphasis on gonads and gut structure. Journal of Fish Biology 44, 75–101.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hood, P.B., Able, K.W. and Grimes, C.B. (1988). Biology of the conger eel Conger oceanicus in the Mid-Atlantic Bight. 1. Distribution, age, growth and reproduction. Marine Biology 98, 587–596.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Humason, G.L. (1979) Animal tissue techniques. San Francisco: W.H. Freeman & Co.Google Scholar
Kanazawa, R.H. (1958) A revision of the eels of the genus Conger with descriptions of four new species. Proceedings of the United States National Museum, Washington 108, 219–267.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kubota, S.S. (1961) Studies on the ecology, growth and metamorphosis in conger eel, Conger myriaster (Brevoort). Journal of the Faculty of Fisheries, Prefectural University of Mie-Tsu 5, 190–370.Google Scholar
Ma, T., Miller, M.J., Aoyama, J. and Tsukamoto, K. (2007) Genetic identification of Conger myriaster leptocephali in the East China Sea region. Fisheries Science 73, 989–994.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McCleave, J.D. and Miller, M.J. (1994) Spawning of Conger oceanicus and Conger triporiceps (Congridae) in the Sargasso Sea and subsequent distribution of leptocephali. Environmental Biology of Fishes 39, 339–355.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mincarone, M.M. and Smith, D.G. (2005) First record of the grey conger Conger esculentus Poey, 1861 (Congridae) in Brazilian waters. Comunicações do Museu de Ciências e Technologia da PUCRS, Série Zoologia 18, 59–62.Google Scholar
Monod, T. (1968) Le complexe urophore des poissons téléostéens. Mémoires de l'Institut Fondamental d'Afrique Noire 81, 1–705.Google Scholar
Morato, T.E., Grós, S.M.P. and Menezes, G. (1999) Diets of forkbeard (Phycis phycis) and conger eel (Conger conger) off the Azores during spring of 1996 and 1997. Arquipélago 17A, 51–64.Google Scholar
Smith, D.G. (1989) Family Congridae, conger eels. In Böhlke, E.B. (ed.) Fishes of the western North Atlantic. New Haven: Memoir Sears Foundation for Marine Research, I, Part 9, pp. 460–567.Google Scholar
Utoh, T., Horie, N., Okamura, A., Yamada, Y., Tanaka, S., Mikawa, N., Akazawa, A. and Poka, H. (2003) Oogenesis in the common Japanese conger Conger myriaster. Fisheries Science 69, 181–188.CrossRefGoogle Scholar