Ecology Summary - Conger cinereus

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Main Ref.	Randall, J.E., 1985
Remarks	Solitary species common on reef flats and seagrass beds of shallow lagoons but ranges to depths of 80 m on outer reef slopes (Ref. 1602). Also found in estuaries (Ref. 5213). Feeds on fish and crustaceans at night, assuming a pattern of broad dark grey bars (Ref. 3921, 11441). This species exhibits a more dynamic and complex predator-prey relationship with sea kraits, its predator. Many conger or moray eels captured by sea kraits are likely to retaliate and bite their predator (considering krait versus prey body size), increasing the risk of injury on the sea krait's end as prey size increases, thus imposing difficulty on actual feeding by sea kraits (Ref. 118210).

Main Ref.

Randall, J.E., 1985

Remarks

Solitary species common on reef flats and seagrass beds of shallow lagoons but ranges to depths of 80 m on outer reef slopes (Ref. 1602). Also found in estuaries (Ref. 5213). Feeds on fish and crustaceans at night, assuming a pattern of broad dark grey bars (Ref. 3921, 11441). This species exhibits a more dynamic and complex predator-prey relationship with sea kraits, its predator. Many conger or moray eels captured by sea kraits are likely to retaliate and bite their predator (considering krait versus prey body size), increasing the risk of injury on the sea krait's end as prey size increases, thus imposing difficulty on actual feeding by sea kraits (Ref. 118210).

Aquatic zones / Water bodies

	Marine - Neritic	Marine - Oceanic	Brackishwater	Freshwater
Marine zones / Brackish and freshwater bodies	supra-littoral zone littoral zone sublittoral zone	epipelagic mesopelagic epipelagic abyssopelagic hadopelagic	estuaries/lagoons/brackish seas mangroves marshes/swamps	rivers/streams lakes/ponds caves exclusively in caves

Highighted items on the list are where Conger cinereus may be found.

Habitat

Substrate	Benthic; Soft Bottom
Substrate Ref.	Mundy, B.C., 2005
Special habitats	Beds: sea grass; Coral Reefs: reef flats;
Special habitats Ref.	Shao, K.-T., C.-P. Lin, L.-T. Ho and P.-L. Lin, 1990

Associations

Ref.
Associations
Associated with
Association remarks
Parasitism

Feeding

Feeding type	mainly animals (troph. 2.8 and up)
Feeding type Ref.	Honebrink, R., 1990
Feeding habit	hunting macrofauna (predator)
Feeding habit Ref.	Randall, J.E., 1985

Trophic Level(s)

Estimation method	Original sample		Unfished population		Remark
Estimation method	Troph	s.e.	Troph	s.e.	Remark
From diet composition	4.34	0.48	4.23	0.70	Troph of juv./adults from 2 studies.
From individual food items	4.34	0.77			Trophic level estimated from a number of food items using a randomized resampling routine.
Ref.	Harmelin-Vivien, M.L., 1979

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