It is the heaviest eel in the world and native to the northeast Atlantic, including the Mediterranean Sea.

European congers have an average adult length of 1.5 m (5 ft), a maximum known length of around 2.133 m (7 ft) [2] and maximum weight of roughly 72 kg (159 lb),[3] making them the largest eels in the world by weight.

They can be rivaled or marginally exceeded in length by the largest species of moray eel but these tend to be slenderer and thus weigh less than the larger congers.

It is usually present on rough, rocky, broken ground, close to the coast when young, moving to deeper waters when adult.

When conger eels are between 5 and 15 years old, their bodies undergo a transformation, with the reproductive organs of both males and females increasing in size and the skeleton reducing in mass and the teeth falling out.

Once hatched, the larval conger eels begin to swim back to shallower waters, where they live until they reach maturity.