Editorial Type:
Article Category: Research Article
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Online Publication Date: 15 Sept 2016

The Identity of Conger japonicus Bleeker, 1879 (Anguilliformes: Congridae)

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Page Range: 734 – 737
DOI: 10.1643/CI-16-408
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The number of species of the congrid eel genus Conger in Japan has been unsettled for more than half a century. The principal authors have disagreed over how many species are present and what their correct names are. The main question involves the identity of Conger japonicus Bleeker, 1879. It has variously been treated as a valid species or a synonym of Conger myriaster (Brevoort, 1856). We examined the holotype and determined that Conger japonicus is a synonym of Conger myriaster. The four valid species of Conger in Japan are Conger cinereus, Conger myriaster, Conger erebennus, and Conger jordani.

Copyright: © 2016 by the American Society of Ichthyologists and Herpetologists
<bold>Fig. 1.</bold>
Fig. 1.

Conger japonicus, from Bleeker, 1879, Pl. 2 (fig. 2).

<bold>Fig. 2.</bold>
Fig. 2.

Characters of the Japanese species of Conger. HL = head length, TL = total length (from Kanazawa, 1958).

<bold>Fig. 3.</bold>
Fig. 3.

Holotype of Conger japonicus, ZMH 3748, 329 mm TL. Photograph by W. White, CSIRO.

<bold>Fig. 4.</bold>
Fig. 4.

Head and anterior body of Conger japonicus, ZMH 3748, with forceps indicating origin of dorsal fin; bar = 10 mm. Photograph by W. W. Schwarzhans.

Contributor Notes

Associate Editor: D. Buth.

Received: 07 Feb 2016
Accepted: 20 Apr 2016
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