Yellow Conger, Rhynchoconger flavus

Yellow Conger, Rhynchoconger flavus. Fish caught from coastal waters off Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, August 2013. Length: 62 cm (2 feet 0 inches). Catch, photograph and identification courtesy of Dominick Porcelli, Lighthouse Point, Florida.

The Yellow Conger, Rhynchoconger falvus, is a member of the Conger Eel or Congridae Family, this is known in Mexico as congrio amarilla. Globally, there are six species in the genus Rhynchoconger, of which four are found in Mexican waters, three in the Atlantic and one, this species, in the Pacific Ocean.

The Yellow Conger has a moderately elongated narrow “eel-like” body. They are a uniform brown to yellowish brow color with the rear portions of the anal and caudal fins having black margins. Their head has a strongly projecting snout that is similar in length to the eye diameter, that has a fleshy keel along the underside of the tip, that has a horizontal mouth equipped with small conical teeth set in a round tooth patch under the snout that is round and is as long as it is wide and another tooth patch at the center front of the roof of the mount that is square and also as long as it is wide. Their anal and dorsal fins are continuous with their caudal fin; their caudal fin is slender and narrows to a point; their dorsal fin originates just before the pectoral fin base; and, their pectoral fins are well-developed with the base above the gill openings. A key to identification is that their stomach and intestines are pale. The tail length is greater than 67% of total length. Their skin is smooth and slimy. Their posterior nostril occurs above the mid-eye level. They have small pores on the upper jaw but lack a pore in front of the rear nostril that is found in similar appearing eels.

The Yellow Conger is a demersal species that is over soft sandy and mud bottom substrate at depths between 25 m (82 feet) and 732 m (2,400 feet). They reach a maximum of 2.0 m (6 feet 6 inches) in length. They are nocturnal predators that prey on crustaceans, fish and mollusks. Reproduction is oviparous. The Yellow Conger is a poorly studied species with very limited information available about their lifestyle and behavioral patterns including specific details on age, growth, longevity, movement patterns, diet, habitat use, and reproduction.

The Yellow Conger is most likely confused with the American Eel, Anguilla rostrata (shorter snout, smaller dorsal fin that originates further from the pectoral fins), the Guppy Conger, Rhynchoconger guppyi, and the Whiptail Conger, Rhynchoconger gracilior (both are rare and have pores between their nostrils).

The Yellow Conger is a resident of all Mexican waters of the Atlantic Ocean including the Gulf of Mexico and the east coast of the Yucatán Peninsula in the Caribbean.

From a conservation perspective the Yellow Conger is currently considered to be of Least Concern with stable, widely distributed populations. In general, they are of limited interest to humans.