Ichthyological Bulletin; No. 33

Abstract

The eel family Congridae is now known to be represented in the western Indian Ocean (here regarded to be west of 60 E. from and including the Red Sea, to Cape Point) by 11 genera and 19 species as well as at least five distinct larval forms which have not yet been identified. More than half of these species inhabit the shallow and offshore waters of the tropical western Indian Ocean. The remainder are known only from cool-temperate waters off the Cape, with one deep-water Atlantic species and one Mediterranean species also present in this area. Considerable additions to this fauna can be expected as the deep waters off the east coast are more fully sampled. Congrina wallacei sp. nov., de- scribed here from 260-270 fathoms off southern Mozambique and Durban, has rather large teeth on the jaws, a long snout and about 168 vertebrae. At least one species spawns off the Cape, but the majority probably do so over the western edge of the oceanic basins north and south of Madagascar. The shallow-water species show strong affinities with the tropical and cool-temperate Indo-Pacific.Rhodes University Libraries (Digitisation