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Abstract To identify the fish specimen with full length of 168.50 cm collected in 2021 along coastal Dalian (Liaoning Province, China), morphological and genetic methods were employed in this study and the contents of the specimen’s stomach were also analyzed to investigate its feeding habits. The results showed that the dorsal fin origin of the specimen begins right above the end of the pectoral fin which was consistent with the morphological characteristics of Conger erebennus Jordan and Snyder denominated in 1901. Genetic analysis based on mitochondrial sequence indicated that the 16S rRNA (NC0623731) of the specimen is highly similar to the published 16S rRNA sequence from C.erebennus and they also clustered together in the phylogenetic tree. In addition, the genetic difference of both 16S rRNA and COⅠ between the specimen and other Conger species was far above the species level. Stomach content analysis showed that the stomach contents of the specimen contained fishes (Cynoglossidae, Callionymidae and Sebastidae), crustaceans (Sepiidae and Octopus), cephalopod (Alpheidae and Squillidae) and echinoderm (Holothuriidae). This is the first report of C.erebennus from coastal China. According to the above observation, we speculate that this species might be distributed in the deep sea of north of the Yellow Sea of China. As a bottom large ferocious fish, this species might pose a great threat to the survival of benthic fish, crustaceans, echinoderms, cephalopods and other fishery resources. All data obtained in this study indicate that C.erebennus can be accurately identified by combined analyses of morphological and genetic methods. Our research work not only well reveals the distribution range and feeding habits of C.erebennus in China but also provides basic materials for phylogeny study of Conger species.
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Published: 12 July 2023
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2023, Vol. 38 
