Large-toothed conger

The Large-toothed conger (Bathyuroconger vicinus, also known as the Largetooth conger or simply the Eel^[2]) is an eel in the family Congridae (conger/garden eels).^[3] It was described by Léon Vaillant in 1888, originally under the genus Uroconger.^[4] It is a marine, deep water-dwelling eel which is known from the eastern central, southeastern, and western central Atlantic, the eastern and western Indian, and the eastern central and western central Pacific Ocean, including Australia, Benin, Cambodia, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Colombia, French Guiana, Gabon, Ghana, Guatemala, Guinea, Guyana, Honduras, India, Indonesia, Japan, Kenya, Malaysia, Maldives, Mexico, Namibia, Nicaragua, Nigeria, Panama, Papua New Guinea, Somalia, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Suriname, Tanzania, Thailand, Togo, the United States, Venezuela, and Vietnam.^[5] It is known to dwell in sandy regions at a depth range of 120-1318 metres, occurring most frequently between 900-1000 m. Males can reach a maximum total length of 88 centimetres.^[3]

The Large-toothed conger feeds predominantly on finfish.^[6] It is used as a food fish in some countries, and is also sometimes caught by fisheries harvesting other species. The IUCN redlist currently lists it as Least Concern, in part due to its widespread distribution and also partly because its use/interaction with fisheries does not occur throughout its entire range, nor is it thought to be at risk of overharvesting due to its deep water nature.^[5]

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