Abstract
A study on the alimentary ethology of conger eels was carried out over a period of four years. Individuals were captured at a depth ranging from 10 to 800 m. The parameters analysed lead to the following observations: (a) in the Central Mediterranean basin the feeding of Conger conger (L.) populations was mainly based on Osteichthyes, Crustacea and Cephalopoda; (b) the neritic population fed on a higher number of species than the epimesobathyal. The high percentage of empty stomachs in the bathyal population was due to the fact that the neritic females, at the end of trophic phase, set out on a reproductive migration towards the bathyal level.
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Communicated by B. Battaglia, Padova
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Cau, A., Manconi, P. Relationship of feeding, reproductive cycle and bathymetric distribution in Conger conger . Mar. Biol. 81, 147–151 (1984). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00393113
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00393113